American Airlines eked out a Q2 profit of $19m, its first since the pandemic started, thanks to nearly $1.5b in federal relief. The report on Thursday underscored the progress airlines are making in rebuilding after the coronavirus crushed air travel — and how much farther they still have to go to fully recover. American’s revenue jumped more than four-fold from a year ago, but was down 37% from the same quarter in 2019. Excluding American’s share of $54b in federal relief to help airlines cover payroll costs, and other special items, the Fort Worth, Texas-based carrier would have lost $1.1b. That is American’s smallest adjusted loss in any quarter since 2019. “We have taken a number of steps to solidify our business ... and it shows in our second-quarter results,” CEO Doug Parker and President Robert Isom said in a memo to employees. The number of airline passengers flying in the US each day has been rising for more than a year and recently hit 2 million, or about 80% of pre-pandemic levels. Domestic leisure travel is roughly back to normal, but business and international travelers — key customers for American and other huge US airlines — are still mostly absent. American has been adding back flights that were cut last year. After convincing thousands of employees to quit or take voluntary leave in 2020, it has recently announced plans to bulk up staffing by recalling 3,300 flight attendants later this year and hiring 350 pilots this year and more than 1,000 next year. Revenue surged to $7.48b, beating the analysts’ prediction of $7.32b.<br/>
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EU antitrust enforcers have extended their deadline for a decision on British Airways and Iberia owner IAG's E500m bid for Spain's Air Europa to Dec. 3, an EU filing showed. The EC, which opened a full-scale investigation last month on concerns that the deal would reduce competition on Spanish local and international routes, had previously set a Nov. 5 deadline. Since the start of the pandemic, the EU competition regulator has extended its deadlines in a number of merger cases to allow companies more time to gather information from clients and rivals necessary to assess deals. IAG may have to offer concessions, such as giving up certain routes, to secure EU approval for the Air Europa deal.<br/>
The oneworld alliance has seen both Alaska Airlines and Royal Air Maroc join in recent months. Could this momentum continue, and could the alliance see significant growth in the near future? Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker was appointed the chairman of oneworld this spring, and he has some big plans for the alliance. In an interview this week, Al Baker talked about his plans for the oneworld alliance while he’s chairman: “First and foremost, my priority will be to grow the alliance. We want to be number one. Like in everything we do at QR, under my leadership we don’t accept anything other than being number one. So for me, it is a big challenge now to grow the alliance, to bring more members. And secondly, it is also for us to make our presence known as oneworld alliance. I think that we are lagging behind when it is coming to the branding we do. I think the members, minus Qatar Airways, are not branding the alliance as it really deserves. And for us it is important that now we be aggressive and let people know that we are today the best alliance.” Story has more.<br/>