American Airlines reports earnings at $1.95 bn in 2013

Blighted by a bankruptcy and a merger, American Airlines Group Inc the combined American Airlines Inc and US Airways Group Inc, yesterday said it earned a combined $1.95 billion in 2013.

Those numbers, though do not tell the whole story.

The net income does not include $3.1 billion net in special items and one-time charges, mostly related to the bankruptcy filing of American Airlines Inc. There is also the assumption that the two carriers operated as a single company for a full year, instead of the 23 days of December after the merger on 9 December of parent AMR Corp and US Airways Group.

However, taking into account those factors, analysts cautions the results represented a strong start to the post-merger company's first year.

Analysts say they are becoming more and more comfortable with American's story going forward despite the challenges of merging two companies.

''We have a lot of work ahead. We know that,'' American chief executive Doug Parker told analysts and reporters.

''But these financial results are evident of the strong foundation we have in place, as we go into this merger. We are looking forward to improving on these results in 2014 as we further integrate our airlines,'' he said.

Meanwhile, US Airways footprint in Pittsburgh continued to shrink.

That latest came with US Airways announcing last week that it would close its 6-year old flight operations centre in Pittsburgh. The carrier's move comes as part of its merger consolidation with American Airlines, which already operated a flight operations centre near its Dallas/Fort Worth headquarters.

Pittsburgh, was at one time the biggest hubs in US Airways' route network. The current airport was built as a popular and state-of-the-art facility to accommodate US Airways' needs.

The Tribune-Review of Pittsburgh criticised the closure saying, "Allegheny County officials borrowed more than $900 million to build Pittsburgh International Airport in the early 1990s, largely to US Airways' specifications, but two bankruptcies in the early 2000s prompted the airline to close its hub, slash more than 500 daily flights, and gut a workforce that surpassed 12,000."

According to US Airways, most of the 600 employees at the Pittsburgh centre would get the option to relocate to Texas, though it acknowledged it doesn't expect all of them to do so.

Those who chose not to go would be given a severance package,

Spokesman Todd Lehmacher told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.