AMR Corp , parent of American Airlines, said its quarterly loss shrank from a year ago, when the company took a $1.1 billion charge, but it remains troubled by economic weakness.

The parent of the No. 2 U.S. airline said on Wednesday its second-quarter net loss was $390 million, or $1.39 per share, compared with a loss of $1.5 billion, or $5.83 per share, a year earlier.

The latest results include $70 million in one-time charges related to the sale of aircraft and the grounding of leased aircraft prior to lease expiration. Excluding those charges, AMR lost $319 million, or $1.14 per share.

The airline industry has been clobbered by a recession that has drained travel demand. Airlines, including American, have responded with capacity cuts.

With ongoing global economic weakness and the resulting effect on travel demand, revenues are down sharply from a year ago, AMR Chief Executive Gerard Arpey said in a statement.

AMR said operating revenue fell 20.9 percent in the second quarter to $4.89 billion. AMR ended the quarter with $3.3 billion in cash and short-term investments, including a restricted balance of $460 million.

(Reporting by Kyle Peterson; editing by John Wallace)

American Airlines