No matter how much money American Airlines prints, investors worry mostly about unit revenue trends

American Airlines, flush with cash, seems to be doing everything one would reasonably expect. It is buying new aircraft, paying employees more, paying taxes after years of losses and buying back large amounts of stock. Too bad investors don’t seem to care. They still focus on passenger revenue per available seat mile. For more than 2 years, PRASM has been falling throughout the industry. Last week, incoming Delta president Glen Hauenstein declared, “Most of this decline has been caused by the decrease in fuel.” That is good for airlines, but bad for airline stocks, which are generally in decline this year because airlines can’t seem to figure out when PRASM will finally turn positive. American said Friday that current quarter PRASM will likely fall between 6% and 8%, after a Q1 decline of 7.5%. <br/>