FILE - In this July 17, 2013
file photo, a United Airlines jet plane landing at Los Angeles
International Airport, in Whittler City Calif., passes in front of a
Waxing Gibbous moon. United Airlines reports quarterly earnings on
Thursday, April 24, 2014. ( AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)
United Airlines is the one U.S. carrier that can't seem to get its act together.
While all the other major airlines made money in
the first quarter, United lost $609 million during the first three
months of this year.
United attributed $200 million of its loss to the "historic severe" winter weather that impacted much of the U.S. this past winter. But by comparison, Delta Air Lines made $213 million in the same quarter while dealing with the same ice and snow storms.
Chicago-based United is still struggling to combine systems and see financial benefits following its 2010 merger with Continental Airlines. In the first quarter, its cost for each mile passengers flew rose 1 percent but its related revenue fell 2 percent. It simply isn't able to charge high enough airfares.
United lost $1.66 per share, worse than the $1.26 per share it lost during the same period last year. Excluding special items, the loss was $1.33 per share, barely beating the $1.35 loss expected by Wall Street analysts surveyed by FactSet.
United's revenue slipped 0.3 percent to $8.7 billion, just short of the $8.71 billion Wall Street analysts had expected.
The one bright spot for United was that it paid less for fuel: $3.18 a gallon, down from $3.28 during last year's first quarter. Considering that the airline used 916 million gallons during the period, that added up to $133 million in savings.
United attributed $200 million of its loss to the "historic severe" winter weather that impacted much of the U.S. this past winter. But by comparison, Delta Air Lines made $213 million in the same quarter while dealing with the same ice and snow storms.
Chicago-based United is still struggling to combine systems and see financial benefits following its 2010 merger with Continental Airlines. In the first quarter, its cost for each mile passengers flew rose 1 percent but its related revenue fell 2 percent. It simply isn't able to charge high enough airfares.
United lost $1.66 per share, worse than the $1.26 per share it lost during the same period last year. Excluding special items, the loss was $1.33 per share, barely beating the $1.35 loss expected by Wall Street analysts surveyed by FactSet.
United's revenue slipped 0.3 percent to $8.7 billion, just short of the $8.71 billion Wall Street analysts had expected.
The one bright spot for United was that it paid less for fuel: $3.18 a gallon, down from $3.28 during last year's first quarter. Considering that the airline used 916 million gallons during the period, that added up to $133 million in savings.
"While
we are not pleased with our first-quarter financial results, we are
building a strong foundation that will result in improved financial
performance," John Rainey, chief financial officer for United
Continental Holdings, Inc., said in a statement.
United
also lost $21 million during the quarter due to an exchange rate loss
in Venezuela. Approximately $100 million of the company's unrestricted
cash balance was held as Venezuelan bolivars as of March 31, 2014. All
international airlines flying there have struggled with a quickly
devaluing currency and have billions of dollars tied up in bolivars that
can't be quickly converted because of Venezuelan currency controls.
No comments:
Post a Comment