American Airlines reported Thursday that Q4 profit slipped 11% as higher costs for fuel and labour offset rising revenue. The world's biggest airline also predicted that 2018 earnings would easily surpass Wall Street's expectations, a sign of continuing strong demand for travel. Still, American couldn't dodge investor concern over too much growth in the airline industry, and the company's shares were headed lower for a second straight day. American plans to grow 2.5 to 3% this year. On a call with analysts Thursday, Chairman and CEO Doug Parker argued that American is growing in a more disciplined manner than "in the old days," when carriers expanded widely during good times — often in competitors' strongest markets. Parker said much of American's growth will involve adding destinations from its own major hubs such as Dallas and increasing flights on existing routes from those hubs. "We think it is smart, efficient growth where we have competitive advantage" and "doesn't result in fare wars," he said. For Q4, American said that it earned $258m, down from $289m a year earlier. Excluding one-time gains and costs, American said it earned 95 cents per share. That beat the average Wall Street expectation of 92 cents per share. American said revenue rose 8.3% to $10.60b. That also beat analysts' expectations of $10.58b. On the cost side, American reported that Q4 spending on fuel jumped more than 23%, and labour expenses rose 7%. That caused operating expenses to grow faster than revenue.<br/>
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American Airlines is considering the Airbus A330-900neo and Boeing 787-9 as alternatives to its Airbus A350 order, says CFO Derek Kerr. "Our options are to take the A350, turn that into an A330-900, or another option is to take the 787-9," he said Thursday. American has been evaluating alternatives to its order for 22 A350-900s since at least September 2017, when CE Doug Parker said it either needed to order more of the aircraft or select another option. At just 22 aircraft, the size of the A350 operation would be too small for American, Parker said, citing the lack commonality with the widebody families already in its fleet. "It's about the complexity it brings to our operating group by bringing a new aircraft," says Kerr on the A350 today. American's widebody fleet consists of nine A330-300s, 15 A330-200s, 23 Boeing 767-300ERs, 47 Boeing 777-200s, 20 777-300ERs, 20 787-8s and 14 787-9s, Flight Fleets Analyzer shows. The A330-300s are scheduled for retirement by 2019. The A330-900neo would have commonality with the airline's existing A330 fleet, while the 787-9 would be an expansion of an existing fleet type. American plans to use the widebody it takes delivery of from 2020 to replace the A330-300s, which have 291 seats, said its president Robert Isom.<br/>