WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Soaring oil prices and a softening U.S. economy mean U.S. airlines face a "difficult" fourth quarter, the chief financial officer of American Airlines parent AMR Corp (AMR.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Monday.
"The industry hasn't fixed itself. I think we're going to see a difficult fourth quarter for the U.S. airline industry given oil prices where they are," Tom Horton said at the Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit in Washington.
Major carriers have restructured and are better prepared for competition from the likes of Southwest Airlines (LUV.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and JetBlue Airways (JBLU.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz). But record high energy costs and a weakening U.S. economy have cast doubt on the industry recovery.
Airlines, including American, have coped with soaring fuel costs by raising fares and passing the expense along to customers. As a result airlines have been largely profitable this year.
In October, AMR reported third-quarter earnings of $175 million on raised fares and capacity cuts. The results were in line with those of other major carriers that have seen their fortunes improve thanks to fare increases.
(For summit blog: summitnotebook.reuters.com/)
(Reporting by Kyle Peterson;Editing by Tim Dobbyn)
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