United Airlines (UAL) today reported first-quarter 2024 financial results. The company had a pre-tax loss of $164 million, a $92 million improvement over the same quarter last year; adjusted pre-tax loss¹ of $79 million, a $187 million improvement on an adjusted basis over the same quarter last year. These earnings reflect the approximately $200 million impact from the Boeing 737 MAX 9 grounding, without which the company would have reported a quarterly profit. In the quarter, the company generated $2.8 billion operating cash flow and free cash flow¹ of $1.5 billion. The company continues to expect full-year 2024 adjusted diluted earnings per share³ of $9 to $11.

United delivered strong financial and operational performance in the quarter. The demand environment remained strong with a double-digit percentage increase in business demand quarter over quarter, as compared to pre-pandemic. Additionally, the company was able to take advantage of a number of opportunities to adjust domestic capacity which drove meaningful improvements in first quarter profitability. Atlantic and Domestic markets both saw large passenger revenue per available seat mile (PRASM) increases year over year, with 11% and 6% growth respectively.

“I want to thank the United team for working so hard this quarter to deliver strong operational metrics for our customers and sharpen our focus on safety, while producing excellent financial results for our shareholders,” said United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby. “We’ve adjusted our fleet plan to better reflect the reality of what the manufacturers are able to deliver. And, we’ll use those planes to capitalize on an opportunity that only United has: profitably grow our mid-continent hubs and expand our highly profitable international network from our best in the industry coastal hubs.”

Fleet Update

United has made several adjustments to its long-term fleet strategy based on future needs of the airline and manufacturers production and delivery timelines that are expected to smooth out and moderate the company’s aircraft delivery schedule in the coming years including:

• Converted a portion of Boeing MAX 10 aircraft orders to Boeing MAX 9 from 2025 through 2027; maintained the right to convert more Boeing MAX 10 into MAX 8 or MAX 9 as needed.
• Have agreed to letters of intent with two lessors to lease 35 new Airbus A321neos with CFM engines expected in 2026 and 2027.
• Due to manufacturing and certification delays from prior years, by the end of 2023, the airline’s contractual aircraft commitments for 2024 had increased to 183 narrowbody aircraft. At the beginning of 2024, these delays were anticipated to continue and the company expected 101 narrowbody deliveries. Following the 737 MAX 9 grounding and the FAA’s announced significant production capacity constraints on Boeing, the company now anticipates 61 narrowbody aircraft and 5 widebody aircraft to be delivered in 2024.

In the short run, the company expects a small number of aircraft previously scheduled to enter into service in the second quarter to be pushed into the third quarter, which is expected to have minimal impact on the company’s capacity plans.  

First-Quarter Financial Results

• Capacity up 9.1% compared to first-quarter 2023.
• Total operating revenue of $12.5 billion, up 9.7% compared to first-quarter 2023.
• TRASM up 0.6% compared to first-quarter 2023.
• CASM down 0.6%, and CASM-ex¹ up 4.7%, compared to first-quarter 2023.
• Pre-tax loss of $164 million, with a pre-tax margin of (1.3)%; adjusted pre-tax loss¹ of $79 million, with an adjusted pre-tax margin¹ of (0.6)%.
• Net loss of $124 million; adjusted net loss¹ of $50 million.
• Diluted loss per share of $0.38; adjusted diluted loss per share¹ of $0.15.
• Average fuel price per gallon of $2.88.
• Ending available liquidity of $16.9 billion.
• Total debt and finance lease obligations of $27.2 billion at quarter end.
• Trailing twelve months adjusted net debt¹ to adjusted EBITDAR¹ of 2.7x.

Key Highlights

• Reached milestone of 200 new and retrofit aircraft featuring United’s signature interior featuring bigger bins, seatback screens at every seat and Bluetooth connectivity.
• United and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced a tentative agreement for a four-year contract extension, covering the airline’s 9,700 aircraft technicians.
• Opened an expanded Flight Training Center – a new, 150,000-square-foot building in Denver with 12 additional full-motion flight simulators to train the next generation of world class pilots.
• Announced MileagePlus® pooling, making United the first airline to allow customers to share and redeem miles in one linked account, providing additional value to loyalty members, their friends and loved ones.
• Announced the addition of Rosalind Brewer and Michelle Freyre to United’s Board of Directors.
• Named among Fortune’s Most Admired Companies list, recognized as having a strong reputation within and across industries.

Customer Experience 

• Announced the addition of larger overhead bins to 50 regional aircraft for an 80% increase of space for carry-on bags, becoming the first U.S. airline to offer the enhancement.
• Partnered with the Transportation Security Authority (TSA) to launch TSA PreCheck Touchless ID at O’Hare International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport, providing an expedited security experience to customers.
• In collaboration with the United Spinal Association and Numotion, launched a new filter in the booking path to enable customers traveling with a personal wheelchair to filter aircraft that can accommodate their device, and for eligible customers, the ability to request a refund of the fare difference in cases where the accommodating trip would be more expensive.
• Began utilizing generative AI on united.com to expedite customer search and in the airline’s industry-leading flight status notification system, further enabling real-time flight status updates to customers.
• Customer satisfaction for the quarter with onboard WiFi and inflight entertainment systems (IFE) achieved its highest rating since 2022 for on-time flights, with WiFi and IFE ratings improving six points year over year on the consumer satisfaction scale, Net Promoter Score.
• United was awarded the ‘Best Business Class Rose’ by Business Traveller as part of its Cellars in the Sky Awards.

Operations

• Achieved the second best on-time departure for any first quarter in the company’s history².
• Achieved the second best on-time arrival and departure metrics amongst U.S. airlines for the second quarter in a row – a position held for the last six months straight.
• Set the record for the highest first quarter consolidated seat factor ever at 84.1%, with March achieving the highest seat factor in the month’s history.
• Set the record for the greatest number of days carrying over 500,000 passengers in the company’s first quarter history at 16 days.

Network 

• Announced upcoming services to three new destinations, with flights between Marrakesh, Morocco and New York/Newark; Cebu, Philippinesand Tokyo-Narita; and Medellin, Colombia and Houston, becoming the first U.S. airline to serve Marrakesh and Cebu. United also announced new service from the airline’s Guam hub to Tokyo-Haneda, launching in May.
• Announced increased service on three routes, adding a second summer-seasonal flight between Porto, Portugal and New York/Newark, a second year-round flight between Hong Kong and Los Angeles starting in October, and extending the second flight between Seoul, South Korea and San Francisco to year-round.
• Announced the return of service between Shanghai and Los Angeles, with four weekly flights beginning at the end of August, and increasing to daily service in late October.
• Restarted summer-seasonal service earlier in the year on popular flights like Washington D.C. to Lisbon, Portugal; Barcelona, Spain; and Rome, Italy.
• Inaugurated service to Tulum, Mexico from Houston and New York/Newark at the end of March; with services from Chicago and Los Angelesstarting in the second quarter, announcing an additional inaugural service between Georgetown, Guyana and Houston also in the second quarter.
• Operated United’s largest quarterly domestic schedule by available seat miles, including operating the airline’s largest Florida schedule in company history with the addition of three new non-stop routes and a year over year increase of 19% to the popular wintertime destination.

Employees, Sustainability & Communities 

• Celebrated one year of Innovate, United’s digital technology career pathway program that has a 92% retention rate for participants.
• Announced the addition of eight new corporate partners to the UAV Sustainable Flight Fund, bringing the amount of capital commitments to more than $200 million from cross-industry businesses to support start-ups focused on decarbonizing air travel by accelerating the research, production and technologies associated with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). More than 115,000 United customers have contributed nearly $500,000 to supplement United’s commitment to the Fund.
• Announced Somos, a new employee Business Resource Group focused on supporting and championing allyship for Latino and Hispanic employees.
• Throughout the quarter, more than 1,200 employees volunteered over 8,600 hours at non-profit organizations supporting local communities around the world.
• United and MileagePlus® members donated nine million miles to non-profit charities across the globe through the Miles on a Mission program, including the quarter’s two feature non-profit partners, Make-A-Wish America and Girl Scouts of the USA.
• Transported nearly 299 million pounds of cargo, including approximately 10.3 million pounds of medical shipments and 263,000 pounds of military shipments.
• Named the inaugural recipient of the Humanitarian Force for Good Award by Air Transport World in its Airline Industry Awards.
• Employees from across the U.S. marched alongside United’s Black Business Resource Group BEACON in Martin Luther King Jr. Day parades in Denver and Los Angeles and volunteered in community service events across the system, including sorting 145,000 pounds of food to help provide more than 174,000 meals to communities in need through the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, Food Bank of the Rockies and Community FoodBank of New Jersey.

United Airlines aircraft photo gallery (Boeing):

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• Source: https://worldairlinenews.com/2024/04/16/united-impacted-by-the-boeing-737-max-9-grounding-posts-a-pre-tax-loss-of-164-million-in-the-first-quarter/