American Airlines (AAL) Return on Capital Employed [ROCE] (2010 - 2026)
American Airlines (AAL) reported Return on Capital Employed [ROCE] of 2.66% for Q3 2026, down 2.96 percentage points from 5.62% a year earlier and down 0.05 percentage points from the prior quarter.
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Analysis
American Airlines (AAL) Return on Capital Employed [ROCE] (2010 - 2026) Analysis & Trends
For FY2025, American Airlines posted Return on Capital Employed [ROCE] of 3.93%, down 2.92 percentage points from FY2024.
- Return on Capital Employed [ROCE] has a five-year change of +27.39 percentage points (FY2020 to FY2025).
- By year, Return on Capital Employed [ROCE] came in at 6.86% in FY2024 (-0.40 pp), 7.25% in FY2023 (+3.61 pp), 3.64% in FY2022 (+5.99 pp) and -2.34% in FY2021 (+21.11 pp).
- The Q3 2026 figure ranks as the lowest quarterly Return on Capital Employed [ROCE] since Q3 2022.
- Year over year, Return on Capital Employed [ROCE] has now declined in each of the last four quarters, with an average year-over-year change of -1.23 percentage points over the last eight quarters.
- The high point for year-over-year Return on Capital Employed [ROCE] in five years was Q4 2021 (a gain of 20.56 percentage points); the low point was Q2 2024 (a drop of 6.90 percentage points).
- Per Business Quant data, the three quarters before Q3 2026 came in at 2.71% (Q2 2026), 4.94% (Q1 2026) and 3.92% (Q4 2025).
Peer Set
Peer Comparison
| # | Company | Market Cap | Enterprise Value | Gross Profit (Qtr) | ROCE (Qtr) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Union Pacific | 172.47 Bn | 164.72 Bn | - | 15.93% |
| 2 | United Parcel Service | 92.24 Bn | 69.07 Bn | - | 11.55% |
| 3 | Csx | 90.81 Bn | 86.03 Bn | - | 13.38% |
| 4 | Canadian Pacific Kansas City | 81.61 Bn | 80.64 Bn | - | 7.22% |
| 5 | Fedex | 72.98 Bn | 39.17 Bn | - | 7.01% |
| 6 | Norfolk Southern | 71.87 Bn | 66.34 Bn | - | 9.77% |
| 7 | Delta Air Lines | 57.23 Bn | 39.41 Bn | - | 10.05% |
| 8 | United Airlines Holdings | 36.65 Bn | -21.05 Bn | - | 8.46% |
| 9 | Old Dominion Freight Line | 34.12 Bn | 32.96 Bn | - | 29.43% |
| 10 | American Airlines | 8.74 Bn | -16.44 Bn | - | 2.66% |
Historic Data
Download Data
Historic Data
| Date | Value |
|---|---|
| Sep 30, 2026 | 2.66% |
| Jun 30, 2026 | 2.71% |
| Mar 31, 2026 | 4.94% |
| Dec 31, 2025 | 3.92% |
| Sep 30, 2025 | 5.62% |
| Jun 30, 2025 | 5.59% |
| Mar 31, 2025 | 6.48% |
| Dec 31, 2024 | 6.81% |
| Sep 30, 2024 | 5.58% |
| Jun 30, 2024 | 4.60% |
| Mar 31, 2024 | 6.72% |
| Dec 31, 2023 | 7.17% |
| Sep 30, 2023 | 8.93% |
| Jun 30, 2023 | 11.50% |
| Mar 31, 2023 | 9.15% |
| Dec 31, 2022 | 3.63% |
| Sep 30, 2022 | -1.23% |
| Jun 30, 2022 | -1.98% |
| Mar 31, 2022 | -3.26% |
| Dec 31, 2021 | -2.19% |
API Access
American Airlines Return on Capital Employed [ROCE] API
Pull this series into your own models, spreadsheets and apps with the Business Quant
Historical Metrics API. The request below matches the chart above — change the
frequency, period or values and it follows. Swap YOUR_API_KEY for your own key.
https://data.businessquant.com/historic?slug=return-on-capital-employed-%5Broce%5D&ticker=AAL&period=max&api_key=YOUR_API_KEYimport requests
url = "https://data.businessquant.com/historic"
params = {"slug": "return-on-capital-employed-[roce]", "ticker": "AAL", "period": "max", "api_key": "YOUR_API_KEY"}
data = requests.get(url, params=params).json()const res = await fetch("https://data.businessquant.com/historic?slug=return-on-capital-employed-%5Broce%5D&ticker=AAL&period=max&api_key=YOUR_API_KEY");
const data = await res.json();