American Airlines parent AMR Corp today reported that its quarterly loss shrank to 344 million dollars, from 347 million dollars in the same period of 2009, according to dpa. Expenses dropped by 3.7 per cent, to 5.45 billion dollars, thanks to a 351-million-dollars savings from lower jet fuel prices, Bloomberg financial news service reported. American, the first of the six biggest US airlines to report fourth-quarter results, said it had also benefited from higher charges for checked bags. Sales fell 7.4 per cent to 5.06 billion dollars as the company cut capacity to match slower demand in the recession last year. "The fuel crisis of 2008 was replaced by the worst recession in decades, which hurt travel demand severely, and tight capital markets," chief executive officer Gerard Arpey said. It was AMRs eighth loss in the past nine quarters.
