AMR Shares Hit New Low on Rising Oil Prices

Shares of AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR) touched a new 52-week low of $5.71 on Friday, as crude oil futures climbed above $112 since September 2008.

The bad news is that we’re now faced with another fuel crisis. To the extent that oil dampens economic growth, we are all very worried about what is happening in oil markets, AMR chief executive officer Gerard Arpey told business journalists at a conference in Dallas.

On Friday, crude oil futures rose 2.3 percent to settle at $112.79, amid skepticism that Libyan oil output would rebound when fighting ends. Crude futures are 32 percent higher than a year ago.

The increase in oil prices will lift jet fuel costs that claim a large chunk of airline operating costs. As violence in the Middle East and North Africa stokes fears that the political turmoil will spread to other oil producing countries, crude prices continue to climb. And that's adding upward pressure to fuel costs.

AMR Corp.'s subsidiary American Airlines reported March traffic of 10.6 billion revenue passenger miles, compared to 10.5 billion revenue passenger miles last year. Capacity for the month was 13.2 billion available seat miles, compared to 12.9 billion available seat miles in the previous year period. Load factor for the month was 80.2 percent, down from 81.7 percent last year.

AMR Corp.'s subsidiary American Eagle Airlines reported that March traffic increased 18.8 percent to 789.56 million revenue passenger miles. Capacity rose 20.4 percent to 1.11 billion available seat miles. Load factor for the month of March improved 0.9 points to 71.0 percent, while American Eagle boarded nearly 1.7 million passengers in March.

AMR stock gapped open marginally lower April 8 at $6.03 compared to previous day's close of $6.04. The stock touched a new 1-year low of $5.71 on Friday.

The stock closed Friday's regular trading down 4.47 percent at $5.77 on the NYSE with a volume of 25.71 million shares. The stock traded between $5.71 and $9.35 during the past 52 weeks.