American Airlines Flight 718, the first commercial flight of the United States’ Boeing 737 MAX since regulators lifted a 20-month ban in November, takes off from Miami, Florida on December 29, 2020.
Marco Bello | Reuters
American Airlines has authorized the sale of an additional $ 1 billion in shares, the carrier said in a filing on Friday, in an effort to keep the money as Covid-19 continues to reduce travel demand.
American authorized a $ 1 billion share sale in October and sold $ 882.4 million at $ 12.87 a share. Under the new deal, it would sell up to $ 1.12 billion.
American’s decision came in the wake of a sharp rise in share prices earlier this week, after being mentioned in the popular WallStreetBets Reddit forum. The airline declined to comment on whether the movement of the shares had any influence on its decision.
American’s shares fell nearly 7% in Friday afternoon trading. The shares of other airlines also fell sharply. The Fort Worth, Texas-based carrier and Southwest Airlines reported record losses in 2020 on Thursday.