The company, which sought U.S. Bankruptcy Court protection last November, said revenue was strong in the United States and across all its international regions.

"During the first half of this year, we have either renewed or won more corporate accounts versus the first half of last year," Virasb Vahidi, American Airlines chief commercial officer, told Reuters.

He said American's ties with joint business partners British Airways and Iberia, whose parent company is International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (ICAG.L), have also helped attract more business passengers, who pay higher fares on average than leisure travelers.

Fort Worth-based American Airlines said last week it plans to evaluate potential mergers and will reach out to interested parties. Creditors including the company's largest labor unions have ramped up the pressure in recent months as American shrugged off merger interest from rival US Airways Group (LCC.N).

"Today's results underscore that our plan is working and the restructuring momentum both on the revenue and cost side is building," Vahidi said.

AMR (AAMRQ.PK) said its net loss narrowed to $241 million, or 72 cents a share, in the second quarter, from $286 million, or 85 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding reorganization costs and other special items that came to $336 million, AMR had a profit of $95 million, or 28 cents a share.

The special items included $106 million in worker severance costs, and $230 million in reorganization expenses tied to estimated claims to restructure aircraft financing, professional fees and rejection of special facility revenue bonds.

Quarterly revenue rose 5.5 percent to $6.5 billion, outpacing the 1.9 percent increase in operating expenses. Fuel costs were up 0.3 percent.

Unit revenue, an important measure, rose 8.6 percent domestically in the period, bolstered by strength in New York, Los Angeles and other key U.S. hubs. International unit revenue was up 9 percent.

(Reporting by Karen Jacobs in Atlanta; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, Gerald E. McCormick and Sofina Mirza-Reid)

• A Permanent Economic Emergency