American Airlines parent loses $238M in 3Q

NEW YORK — American Airlines parent company AMR says it lost $238 million in the third-quarter on employee severance costs and other charges related to its bankruptcy.

Without those charges, the Fort Worth, Texas, company would have posted an operating profit as it paid less for fuel and benefited from a partnership that boosted traffic overseas.

The quarterly loss works out to 71 cents per share. A year ago, AMR lost $162 million, or 48 cents per share.

But AMR Corp. said its core performance improved, despite widespread cancellations and delays in September. It made more money per passenger and flights were fuller than any quarter before.

American also said Wednesday it will hire 1,500 flight attendants starting next month because an overwhelming number of current staff took buyout offers.