American Airlines quarterly profit plunges 44%

[NEW YORK] American Airlines Group Inc's quarterly profit plunged 44 per cent, hurt by a big provision for income tax.

The world's largest airline earned US$950 million, or US$1.68 per share, in the second quarter ended June 30 compared with US$1.70 billion, or US$2.41 per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, the company earned US$2.81 per share.

Analysts on average expected a profit of US$1.68 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. It was not immediately clear if the numbers were comparable.

Provision for income tax surged to US$543 million from US$15 million.

REUTERS