It was a good news/bad news fourth quarter for cargo at American Airlines. At face value, cargo revenue fell at a greater clip than the rest of 2022, but yields remained well above the pre-pandemic baseline and the company still generated the second-best annual cargo sales in its history.
The Fort Worth, Texas, carrier reported $263 million in cargo revenue for the final three months of the year, a 23% drop from the 2021 market high as the yearlong slowdown in business accelerated. The results were 22% better than in 2019, a benchmark for stable business before the COVID crisis upset the global economy, and the same as in 2018 — a robust year for the air cargo industry and American Airlines’ (NASDAQ: AAL) best quarter prior to 2021.