Airlines Third-Quarter Earnings Forecasts

Here are the consensus forecasts of analysts for third-quarter earnings or loss per share and revenue for the nation’s nine largest airline companies, according to Thomson Reuters as of Thursday morning. Figures from third quarter of 2008 are in parentheses.

— AirTran Holdings Inc.: forecast to report 11 cents earnings per share; $597 million revenue. (Lost 91 cents per share; $673 million in revenue during last year’s third quarter.)

— Alaska Air Group Inc.: $2.04 earnings per share; $968 million. (Lost $2.40 per share; $1.07 billion revenue a year ago.)

— AMR Corp., parent of American Airlines: loss of 86 cents per share; $5.10 billion. (Lost 17 cents per share; $6.42 billion revenue.)

— Continental Airlines Inc.: 2 cents earnings per share; $3.30 billion. (Lost $2.14 per share; $4.16 billion revenue.)

— Delta Air Lines Inc.: loss of 7 cents per share; $7.60 billion. (Lost 13 cents per share; $5.72 billion revenue.)

— JetBlue Airways Corp.: 4 cents earnings per share; $851 million. (Lost 2 cents per share; $902 million revenue.)

— Southwest Airlines Co.: loss of 1 cent per share; $2.59 billion. (Lost 16 cents per share; $2.89 billion revenue.)

— UAL Corp., parent of United Airlines: loss of $1.09 per share; $4.33 billion. (Lost $6.13 per share; $5.57 billion revenue.)

— US Airways Group Inc.: loss of 92 cents per share; $2.71 billion. (Lost $8.45 per share; $3.26 billion revenue.)

Sources: Thomson Reuters; company press releases and regulatory filings.