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U.S. Department of Transportation U.S. Department of Transportation Icon United States Department of Transportation United States Department of Transportation

2018 Annual and 4th Quarter U.S. Airline Financial Data

Monday, May 6, 2019
Date: Monday, May 6, 2019
 

U.S. scheduled passenger airlines reported a 2018 after-tax net profit of $11.8 billion, the sixth consecutive annual after tax profit, and a pre-tax operating profit of $17.6 billion, the 10th consecutive annual pre-tax profit.

U.S. airline financial reports are filed quarterly with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS). See the tables that accompany this release on the BTS website for additional 2018 annual (Tables 1-6) and fourth-quarter (Tables 7-12) financial results.

2018 Annual Results for All 21 Scheduled Passenger Airlines

After-tax net income

  • $11.8 billion in 2018 (sixth consecutive annual after-tax net profit)
  • Down from $15.3 billion in 2017

 

Pre-tax operating profit

  • $17.6 billion in 2018 (10th consecutive annual pre-tax operating profit)
  • Down from $21.4 billion in 2017

 

 

  • Total operating expenses: $169.8 billion
    • Fuel costs accounted for $34.5 billion, 20.3% of total operating expenses
    • Labor costs accounted for $56.1 billion, 33.0% of total operating expenses

 

Fees are included for calculations of net income, operating revenue and operating profit or loss.

 

Domestic results for 21 scheduled airlines

 

After-tax domestic net income

  • $8.6 billion in 2018 (sixth consecutive annual domestic after-tax net profit)
  • Down from $13.2 billion in 2017

 

Pre-tax domestic operating profit

  • $13.2 billion in 2018 (10th consecutive annual domestic pre-tax operating profit)
  • Down from $17.8 billion in 2017

 

International results for 17 scheduled U.S. airlines

After-tax international net income

  • $3.2 billion in 2018 (ninth consecutive annual international after-tax net profit)
  • Up from $2.1 billion in 2017

 

Pre-tax international operating profit

  • $4.4 billion in 2018 (10th consecutive annual international pre-tax operating profit)
  • Up from $3.6 billion in 2017

 

 

4Q 2018 Results for All 21 Scheduled U.S. Passenger Airlines

After-tax net income

  • $2.9 billion in 4Q 2018 (23rd consecutive quarterly after-tax net profit)
  • Down from $3.8 billion in 3Q 2018
  • Down from $5.0 billion in 4Q 2017
  • $2.4 billion from domestic operations, $545.6 million from international operations

 

Pre-tax operating profit

  • $3.9 billion in 4Q 2018 (31st consecutive quarterly pre-tax operating profit)
  • Down from $5.3 billion in 3Q 2018
  • Down from $4.1 billion in 4Q 2017
  • $3.2 billion from domestic operations, $702.7 million from international operations

 

Reporting notes

Additional data: BTS website, see tables for operating profit/loss, operating revenue and fuel cost and consumption. See the BTS financial databases for more detailed data including numbers for individual airlines.

 

Filing requirement: By regulation, for the quarter ending Dec. 31, airlines that operate at least one aircraft that is designed/certified for more than 60 seats or the capacity to carry a payload of passengers and cargo weighing more than 18,000 pounds must report financial data to BTS by March 31. The airline filings are subject to a process of quality assurance and data validations before release to the public.

 

Data updates: Revised carrier data and late data filings will be made available monthly on TranStats on the Monday following the second Tuesday of the month. All data are subject to revision. BTS will release first-quarter 2019 data on June 17.