earnings

American Airlines rode strong demand for flying in the travelling public to higher earnings Thursday despite mounting costs connected to the prolonged grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX.

Fuller flights amid a good consumer environment enabled American’s profits to soar 14.2 percent higher in third-quarter to $425 million. Revenues increased three percent to $11.9 billion.

Chief Executive Doug Parker said he was pleased with the earnings growth, but conceded that “our results should have been better.”

Parker cited the hit from the MAX grounding — in the wake of two tragic crashes — as well as ongoing operational challenges tied …