Thu Apr 18, 2013 10:07am EDT
April 18 (Reuters) - American Airlines parent AMR Corp , which plans to merge with US Airways Group Inc to form the world's biggest carrier, reported a smaller first-quarter loss on Thursday, aided by cost-cutting from its bankruptcy restructuring.
Excluding reorganization and special items, the carrier recorded a profit of $8 million, the first time it has had earnings on that basis in the March quarter since 2007.
Since filing for bankruptcy protection in late 2011, American has renegotiated plane leases, cut management and support staff and frozen pension plans to lower costs and improve its competitiveness with rivals.
This week, American filed formal plans to exit bankruptcy, a necessary step to completing its proposed $11 billion merger with US Air. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter.
On Tuesday, American was forced to ground nearly 1,000 flights because of a computer outage tied to a software issue that affected its network systems. American said the problem was not related to the bombings at the Boston Marathon on Monday.
AMR's first-quarter net loss was $341 million, or $1.02 a share, compared with a loss of $1.7 billion, or $4.95 a share, a year earlier.
The company recorded costs of $276 tied to its reorganization, and charges and merger-related expenses of $28 million. It also took a charge of $45 million tied to a rise in workers' compensation claims in recent months.
Operating revenue rose 1 percent to $6.1 billion, a record for the first quarter. Passenger revenue per available seat mile, an important measure known as unit revenue, rose 2.6 percent for American and its regional affiliate American Eagle.
Operating expenses fell 1.3 percent, aided by lower costs for wages and salaries.
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