American Airlines Group vs United Airlines
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The short version
- United Airlines is the larger business, with $59.1B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $54.6B for American Airlines Group.
- United Airlines grew revenue faster (3.5%, against 0.8%).
- United Airlines kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (8.0% operating margin, against 2.7%).
- United Airlines turned more of its sales into free cash flow (4.3% FCF margin, against −1.2%).
- United Airlines earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (15.3%, against 5.7%).
| Latest fiscal year | AAL · FY25 | UAL · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $8.0B | $32.1B |
| Revenue | $54.6B | $59.1B |
| Free cash flow | −$680M | $2.6B |
| Net income | $111M | $3.4B |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 0.8% | 3.5% |
| 5-year growth | 25.8% | 30.9% |
| Share count change | −8.4% | −1.4% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | — | — |
| Operating margin | 2.7% | 8.0% |
| Net margin | 0.2% | 5.7% |
| FCF margin | −1.2% | 4.3% |
| Return on capital | 5.7% | 15.3% |
| Return on equity | — | 24.0% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $19.4B | $9.5B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 5.3x | 1.2x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $0.0M | $637M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | — | 9.0x |
| Piotroski F-score | 5 | 6 |
Revenue
FY16
AAL $40.1B
UAL $36.6B
FY17
AAL $42.6B
UAL $37.7B
FY18
AAL $44.5B
UAL $41.3B
FY19
AAL $45.8B
UAL $43.3B
FY20
AAL $17.3B
UAL $15.4B
FY21
AAL $29.9B
UAL $24.6B
FY22
AAL $49.0B
UAL $45.0B
FY23
AAL $52.8B
UAL $53.7B
FY24
AAL $54.2B
UAL $57.1B
FY25
AAL $54.6B
UAL $59.1B
AAL
UAL
Operating margin
FY16
AAL 12.6%
UAL 11.9%
FY17
AAL 9.9%
UAL 9.6%
FY18
AAL 6.0%
UAL 7.8%
FY19
AAL 6.7%
UAL 9.9%
FY20
AAL −60.1%
UAL −41.4%
FY21
AAL −3.5%
UAL −4.2%
FY22
AAL 3.3%
UAL 5.2%
FY23
AAL 5.8%
UAL 7.8%
FY24
AAL 4.8%
UAL 8.9%
FY25
AAL 2.7%
UAL 8.0%
AAL
UAL
Free cash flow
FY16
AAL $793M
UAL $2.3B
FY17
AAL −$1.2B
UAL −$396M
FY18
AAL −$212M
UAL $2.1B
FY19
AAL −$453M
UAL $2.4B
FY20
AAL −$8.5B
UAL −$5.9B
FY21
AAL $496M
UAL −$40.0M
FY22
AAL −$373M
UAL $1.2B
FY23
AAL $1.2B
UAL −$260M
FY24
AAL $1.3B
UAL $3.8B
FY25
AAL −$680M
UAL $2.6B
AAL
UAL
Return on capital
FY16
AAL 16.8%
UAL 17.4%
FY17
AAL 12.7%
UAL 15.5%
FY18
AAL 12.4%
UAL 13.6%
FY19
AAL 13.5%
UAL 16.0%
FY20
AAL −48.8%
UAL −23.5%
FY21
AAL −5.2%
UAL −3.9%
FY22
AAL 6.5%
UAL 8.3%
FY23
AAL 13.0%
UAL 14.1%
FY24
AAL 12.5%
UAL 16.2%
FY25
AAL 5.7%
UAL 15.3%
AAL
UAL
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.