Winter storms forced airlines to ground nearly 20,000 flights this week and chilled industry earnings, resulting in an estimated net loss of $121 million to $150 million, according to AirlineForecasts LLC on Friday.
American Airlines, the country’s third-largest carrier, took the biggest hit after high winds and ice closed its Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport hub Tuesday.
American, along with American Eagle and its other commuter operations, racked up more than 5,300 cancellations for the week, according to FlightAware, which tracks airline performance.
Assuming that 10 percent to 30 percent of stranded customers choose to not reschedule, the cancellations likely reduced first-quarter net income of parent company AMR Corp. by $41.5 million to $51.3 million, or 12.5 cents to 15 cents a share, said Vaughn Cordle, chief analyst at AirlineForecasts.
“The airlines accrue for a certain amount of winter losses in their operations, so when they actually report it, the actual losses could be less — this is a ballpark figure,” Cordle said in an interview. “But the magnitude of this week’s cancellations is historic. It’s an extraordinarily large number.”
AMR declined to comment.
Dallas-Fort Worth International saw 1,589 cancellations, a far second to the 2,090 cancellations at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, which was as brought to a virtual standstill Tuesday and Wednesday by a blizzard.
Chicago is another hub for American, and it’s the home for rival United Continental Holdings Inc. , which also saw more than 5,000 cancellations between its United and Continental units, as well as an additional 3,000 cancellations among its commuter operations.
United Continental likely saw the second-worst loss from the weather, with an estimated $38.4 million to $47 million reduction to its first-quarter net income, or 12 cents to 14.6 cents a share, said Cordle.
Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines Inc. , along with its commuter operations, grounded 3,900 flights, with an estimated $24.1 million to $30.2 million hit to its bottom line, or 3 cents to 4 cents a share.
And Southwest Airlines Co. canceled nearly 2,300 flights, with an estimated hit to first-quarter net income of $11 million to $13.5 million, or roughly 2 cents a share.
United Continental declined to comment. No one from Delta or Southwest were immediately available.
On Friday, airlines continued to right their operations after a week of icy weather that caused more than 20,000 flight cancellations and stranded up to 800,000 travelers, said FlightAware.
