American Airlines Group vs Southwest Airlines
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The short version
- American Airlines Group is the larger business, with $54.6B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $28.1B for Southwest Airlines, about 1.9 times as much.
- Southwest Airlines grew revenue faster (2.1%, against 0.8%).
- American Airlines Group kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (2.7% operating margin, against 1.5%).
- American Airlines Group turned more of its sales into free cash flow (−1.2% FCF margin, against −3.0%).
- American Airlines Group earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (5.7%, against 3.7%).
| Latest fiscal year | AAL · FY25 | LUV · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $8.0B | $20.6B |
| Revenue | $54.6B | $28.1B |
| Free cash flow | −$680M | −$831M |
| Net income | $111M | $441M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 0.8% | 2.1% |
| 5-year growth | 25.8% | 25.4% |
| Share count change | −8.4% | −13.2% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | — | — |
| Operating margin | 2.7% | 1.5% |
| Net margin | 0.2% | 1.6% |
| FCF margin | −1.2% | −3.0% |
| Return on capital | 5.7% | 3.7% |
| Return on equity | — | 4.8% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $19.4B | $1.8B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 5.3x | 0.9x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $0.0M | $2.9B |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | — | 20.4x |
| Piotroski F-score | 5 | 7 |
Revenue
FY16
AAL $40.1B
LUV $20.4B
FY17
AAL $42.6B
LUV $21.2B
FY18
AAL $44.5B
LUV $22.0B
FY19
AAL $45.8B
LUV $22.4B
FY20
AAL $17.3B
LUV $9.0B
FY21
AAL $29.9B
LUV $15.8B
FY22
AAL $49.0B
LUV $23.8B
FY23
AAL $52.8B
LUV $26.1B
FY24
AAL $54.2B
LUV $27.5B
FY25
AAL $54.6B
LUV $28.1B
AAL
LUV
Operating margin
FY16
AAL 12.6%
LUV 17.2%
FY17
AAL 9.9%
LUV 16.1%
FY18
AAL 6.0%
LUV 14.6%
FY19
AAL 6.7%
LUV 13.2%
FY20
AAL −60.1%
LUV −42.2%
FY21
AAL −3.5%
LUV 10.9%
FY22
AAL 3.3%
LUV 4.3%
FY23
AAL 5.8%
LUV 0.9%
FY24
AAL 4.8%
LUV 1.2%
FY25
AAL 2.7%
LUV 1.5%
AAL
LUV
Free cash flow
FY16
AAL $793M
LUV $2.3B
FY17
AAL −$1.2B
LUV $1.8B
FY18
AAL −$212M
LUV $3.0B
FY19
AAL −$453M
LUV $3.0B
FY20
AAL −$8.5B
LUV −$1.6B
FY21
AAL $496M
LUV $1.8B
FY22
AAL −$373M
LUV −$134M
FY23
AAL $1.2B
LUV −$356M
FY24
AAL $1.3B
LUV −$1.6B
FY25
AAL −$680M
LUV −$831M
AAL
LUV
Return on capital
FY16
AAL 16.8%
LUV 30.2%
FY17
AAL 12.7%
LUV 38.1%
FY18
AAL 12.4%
LUV 25.5%
FY19
AAL 13.5%
LUV 25.6%
FY20
AAL −48.8%
LUV −42.0%
FY21
AAL −5.2%
LUV 21.9%
FY22
AAL 6.5%
LUV 12.2%
FY23
AAL 13.0%
LUV 2.4%
FY24
AAL 12.5%
LUV 3.2%
FY25
AAL 5.7%
LUV 3.7%
AAL
LUV
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.