American Airlines announced it was cutting flights and withdrawing its 2025 financial guidance today, thanks to the uncertain economy under Trump 2.0.
"We came off a strong fourth quarter, saw decent business in January, and really domestic leisure travel fell off considerably as we went into the February time frame," American Airlines CEO Robert Isom told CNBC today.
This follows similar announcements by Southwest, Delta, and United Airlines, with Southwest citing "macroeconomic uncertainty" and United citing travel bookings as "impossible to predict" under the current administration's turbulent tariff era.
Faltering economic confidence is impacting the US airline industry, forcing major carriers to trim flight schedules and reassess profit projections.
American Airlines became the latest to withdraw its 2025 financial guidance on Thursday, following similar moves by Southwest and Delta. All three airlines pointed to a decline in bookings from economy leisure travelers as a key factor in the increasingly uncertain economic landscape.
Southwest Airlines reported late Wednesday that it would trim its flight schedule for the second half of the year due to lower demand. The company also said it could not reaffirm its 2025 and 2026 outlooks for earnings before interest and taxes, given "current macroeconomic uncertainty."
United Airlines last week gave two different financial forecasts for how it may perform this year, one if there's a recession and one if not. The airline said it planned to reduce its scheduled domestic flights by 4% starting in July in response to lower-than-expected demand for economy fare tickets.
Delta Air Lines, the nation's most profitable carrier, predicted as recently as January that the company was on track for the best financial year in its history. Earlier this month, the airline scratched its performance expectations for 2025 and said it was putting a planned flight schedule expansion on hold.
Previously: Trump frantically backpedals with "pause" on idiotic tariffs
