Item 6. Selected Financial Data
The following financial information, for the five years ended December 31, 2020, has been derived
from the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements. This information should be viewed in
conjunction with the Consolidated Financial Statements and related notes thereto included elsewhere
herein. The Company provides the operating data below because these statistics are commonly used in
the airline industry and, therefore, allow readers to compare the Company’s performance against its
results for prior periods, as well as against the performance of the Company’s peers.
Year ended December 31,
2020 2019 2018 2017 2016
Financial Data (in millions, except per share amounts):
Operating revenues $ 9,048 $ 22,428 $ 21,965 $ 21,146 $ 20,289
Operating expenses
12,864 19,471 18,759 17,739 16,767
Operating income (loss) (3,816) 2,957 3,206 3,407 3,522
Other expenses (income) net 440 — 42 142 72
Income (loss) before taxes (4,256) 2,957 3,164 3,265 3,450
Provision (benefit) for income taxes (1,182) 657 699 (92) 1,267
Net income (loss) $ (3,074) $ 2,300 $ 2,465 $ 3,357 $ 2,183
Net income (loss) per share, basic $ (5.44) $ 4.28 $ 4.30 $ 5.58 $ 3.48
Net income (loss) per share, diluted $ (5.44) $ 4.27 $ 4.29 $ 5.57 $ 3.45
Cash dividends per common share $ 0.180 $ 0.700 $ 0.605 $ 0.475 $ 0.375
Total assets at period-end $ 34,588 $ 25,895 $ 26,243 $ 25,110 $ 23,286
Long-term obligations at period-end $ 10,111 $ 1,846 $ 2,771 $ 3,320 $ 2,821
Stockholders’ equity at period-end $ 8,876 $ 9,832 $ 9,853 $ 9,641 $ 7,784
Operating Data:
Revenue passengers carried (000s) 54,088 134,056 134,890 130,256 124,720
Enplaned passengers (000s) 67,785 162,681 163,606 157,677 151,740
Revenue passenger miles (RPMs) (in millions)
(a)
54,221 131,345 133,322 129,041 124,798
Available seat miles (ASMs) (in millions)
(b)
103,456 157,254 159,795 153,811 148,522
Load factor
(c)
52.4% 83.5% 83.4% 83.9% 84.0%
Average length of passenger haul (miles) 1,002 980 988 991 1,001
Average aircraft stage length (miles) 743 748 757 754 760
Trips flown 897,540 1,367,727 1,375,030 1,347,893 1,311,149
Seats flown (000s)
(d)
137,405 206,390 207,223 200,879 193,168
Seats per trip
(e)
153.1 150.9 150.7 149.0 147.3
Average passenger fare $ 141.72 $ 154.98 $ 151.64 $ 151.73 $ 152.89
Passenger revenue yield per RPM (cents)
(f)
14.14 15.82 15.34 15.32 15.28
Operating revenues per ASM (cents)
(g)(j)
8.75 14.26 13.75 13.75 13.66
Passenger revenue per ASM (cents)
(h)
7.41 13.21 12.80 12.85 12.84
Operating expenses per ASM (cents)
(i)
12.43 12.38 11.74 11.53 11.29
Operating expenses per ASM, excluding fuel (cents) 10.65 9.62 8.85 8.88 8.73
Operating expenses per ASM, excluding fuel and profitsharing (cents) 10.65 9.19 8.51 8.53 8.34
Fuel costs per gallon, including fuel tax $ 1.45 $ 2.09 $ 2.20 $ 1.99 $ 1.90
Fuel costs per gallon, including fuel tax, economic $ 1.49 $ 2.09 $ 2.20 $ 2.06 $ 2.00
Fuel consumed, in gallons (millions) 1,273 2,077 2,094 2,045 1,996
Active fulltime equivalent Employees 56,537 (j) 60,767 58,803 56,110 53,536
Aircraft at end of period 718(k)(l) 747(k) 750 706 723
(a) A revenue passenger mile is one paying passenger flown one mile. Also referred to as “traffic,” which is a measure of demand for a
given period.
(b) An available seat mile is one seat (empty or full) flown one mile. Also referred to as “capacity,” which is a measure of the space
available to carry passengers in a given period.
(c) Revenue passenger miles divided by available seat miles.
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