The numbers are out and it turns out that AMR, the parent company of Fort Worth-based American Airlines, did not fly very high during the first quarter of 2009.
The company released a statement saying: "Amid an economic downturn unseen in decades, putting a damper on passenger demand and revenue, AMR reported a first-quarter net loss of $375 million, of $1.35 per share."
However, AMR claims it didn't lose as much money as analyst had projected: "The company’s first-quarter results surpassed Thomson Financial First Call earnings consensus for a loss of $1.68 a share by 38 cents, excluding the A300 retirement charge of $13 million, or 5 cents per share, and the revenue expectations of analysts polled by First Call by $109 million."
Despite the losses, American Airlines spokesperson Tim Smith said the company does not plan to have any layoffs.
"There is a bit of a silver lining but we can't be anything but disappointed," he said.
Along Main Street in Grapevine some business owners are bracing for the economic backlash.
Brett Kinzel, owner of Napoli's Italian Restaurant, said at one time he did great business at lunch on a Wednesday, but these days at least half of his tables are empty.
"This is not good news for us absolutely ... we are in the heart of American Airlines country," he said. "The better they do, the better we do and the worse they do, the worse we do."
Kinzel said he has already reduced his staff down to one waitress at lunch. He used to have two waitresses to handle the crowd.
"Being a small mom-and-pop business here on Main Street we try to roll with the punches the best we can and hope we can come out of this on the other end," Kinzel said.
