American Airlines May Adjust Capacity if Fuel Prices Stay High, CEO Says

By Elias Schisgall

American Airlines Group may need to adjust its capacity planning if fuel prices remain elevated, its chief executive officer, Robert Isom, said Wednesday.

Isom, speaking at Morgan Stanley's Laguna conference, said the airline has so far made "great trade-offs," with a modest decline in load factors but strong revenue growth.

Still, Isom said, "if fuel prices remain as high as they are right now, I think that that's going to require some adjustments in terms of our capacity planning as we take a look out into the future."

Chief Financial Officer Devon May added that the company is growing capacity overall in the fourth quarter, but pulling back a little in December due to fuel costs. He said the company's 2027 growth will be lower than management had expected three or six months ago.

"Our unit revenue performance, less our controllable cost performance--that gap, we think is going to be industry leading," May said. "It's just fuel is this variable right now that's moving around on us."

Isom said he expects fuel prices to ultimately improve--and with them, American's performance.

"As fuel stabilizes, it eventually will, I really look to us being back on track, producing much improved margins, producing free cash flow, and we've done a nice job of certainly strengthening our balance sheet and reducing our leverage," Isom said. "There's just more of that to come and much better news for our shareholders going forward."

Write to Elias Schisgall at elias.schisgall@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 16, 2026 12:37 ET (16:37 GMT)