AMR tops expectations, hails turnaround effort

<br>(Fort Worth, Texas-AP) -- The parent of American Airlines says it is making good progress on its turnaround effort. <br><br>AMR Corporation says it had a net profit of $1-million in the third quarter,

Wednesday, October 22nd 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

(Fort Worth, Texas-AP) -- The parent of American Airlines says it is making good progress on its turnaround effort.

AMR Corporation says it had a net profit of $1-million in the third quarter, compared with a $924-million loss a year ago.

That's break even on a per-share basis.

At the same time, adjusting for one-time items, AMR says it lost $23-million, or 15 cents a share.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call had predicted a loss of 41 cents per share.

AMR president and CEO Gerard Arpey notes that the company should be "doing much better than simply breaking even". But he says the results are ``unmistakable evidence that we are building critical momentum'' to cut costs.