Shares in American Airlines Group Inc (NYSE: AAL) certainly failed to take off Thursday after it reported a drop in net earnings and a pay increase for crew.
Shares in New York plunged 5.15% in pre-market at $44.01.
Net earnings for the first quarter fell to $234 million, or 46 cents a share, compared to $700 million, or $1.14 a share, in the same three months of 2016.
Mainline passenger revenue rose 0.6% to $6.61 billion.
That was above the consensus of $6.54bn, but regional passenger revenue growth of 1.7% to $1.55 billion fell short of expectations for $1.83 billion.
American revealed it had deferred the first delivery of Airbus A350 XWBs from 2018 to 2020, delaying capital expenditures.
It also said it had taken the "unprecedented step" to increase hourly base pay for the airline’s crewmembers outside of contract negotiations.
This brought these workgroups’ base pay levels to "the top of the industry, consistent with other American Airlines workgroups", it said.
Company boss Doug Parker remains upbeat on the group's prospects.
"The future is very bright and we are well on our way to validating the trust placed in us by our team members, our customers and our investors. Today’s results are an affirmation that we are on the proper path to that long-term objective," he said.