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American Airlines reports record $1.2 billion first-quarter profit

American Airlines, Philadelphia's dominant air carrier, reported Friday a record $1.2 billion profit in the first three months of this year, mainly because of lower fuel prices.

American Airlines, Philadelphia's dominant air carrier, reported Friday a record $1.2 billion profit in the first three months of this year, mainly because of lower fuel prices.

American earned $402 million in the same period last year.

Jet-fuel costs dropped 42.2 percent in the three months ended March 31 compared to the same period last year.

Management said that although passenger travel demand remained healthy, revenue was impacted by a stronger U.S. dollar, foreign currency fluctuations, competition on international routes, and economic softness in Latin America.

"American reported better than expected earnings per share on good cost management," analyst Helane Becker of Cowen & Co. said in a client note.

Operating expenses fell 7.1 percent compared to the quarter last year.

Domestic passenger revenue per seat mile - a key industry measure - fell 1 percent, and planes were 82.9 percent full, American said.

International passenger revenue decreased 4.1 percent in the latest quarter.

"We are already off to a strong start in the second quarter," chief executive officer Doug Parker said in a message to employees.

"All this puts us on a great track to finish the heavy lift remaining in 2015, including the large task of combining our passenger systems," Parker said.

American and US Airways merged in December 2013. The airlines last month combined their frequent flier programs.

The Federal Aviation Administration on April 8 granted the combined airline, the world's largest in passenger traffic, a single operating certificate. American and US Airways plan to combine their ticket-reservation systems in the fourth quarter this year.