an american airlines boeing 737 jet sits at a gate at washingtons reagan national airport with the us capitol building in the background as the novel coronavirus covid19 pandemic continues to keep airline travel at minimal levels and the us economy contracts in the first quarter at its sharpest pace since the great recession in washington us april 29 2020 reuterskevin lamarque june 3 reuters  american airlines group inc aalo lifted its revenue forecast for the second quarter on friday citing the boost from pentup demand for travel and a strong pricing environment airlines have in recent months enjoyed a surge in bookings as countries ease covid19 restrictions encouraging people to take to the skies after two years of the pandemicrestricted travel american airlines said it now expects revenue for the quarter to rise between 11 and 13 over prepandemic levels compared with its prior view of a 6 to 8 increase but the fortworth texasbased carrier warned that fuel costs would rise in the period lifting its expectation for average fuel expenses to between 392 and 397 per gallon from its previous forecast of 359 to 364 per gallon fuel is the industrys secondbiggest expense after labor but major us carries do not hedge against volatile oil prices like most european airlines american airlines also said it expects capacity in the second quarter to be at the low end of its prior guidance range the company however is confident that higher revenue will offset the rise in costs caused by steeper fuel prices it said reporting by kannaki deka in bengaluru editing by aditya soni