CHICAGO-BASED united Airlines forecast another profit for the end of the year and said consumer appetite for travel is showing no signs of slowing down despite high airfares.
'Looking forward through the end of the year, the airline expects the strong Covid recovery trends to continue to overcome the recessionary pressures in the macroeconomic environment,' United said in an earnings release.
'The airline now expects fourth-quarter adjusted operating margin to be above 2019 for the first time.'
The carrier posted a third-quarter profit of US$942 million, down 8 per cent from three years ago, and $12.88 billion in revenue, which was ahead of analysts' estimates and up 13 per cent from 2019, reports CNBC.
The strong summer travel season and sunny outlook for the rest of the year indicate consumers are willing to continue to spend on trips, a turnaround from early in the pandemic when Covid-19 restrictions devastated demand.
Delta Air Lines last week said it brought in record revenue for the third quarter and forecast another profit for the fourth quarter.
The upbeat outlooks from airline executives contrast with other sectors that have struggled this year, including parts of the retail industry and some streaming platforms that were beneficiaries of lockdowns early in the pandemic.
US airline executives have recently noted strong demand to Europe well past the summer peak and into the fall, and are keeping more capacity in those markets in response.
Airlines remain constrained in how many flights they can offer as aircraft deliveries run late because of supply chain problems and other issues, and carriers scramble to hire and train new staff, particularly pilots.
Limited supply of flights is keeping fares up. United said its third-quarter revenue per available seat mile was up more than 25 per cent from three years earlier. For the current quarter, it expects that metric to be up by as much as that amount compared with 2019.
Meanwhile, the carrier said its fourth-quarter capacity will likely be down about 10 per cent compared with 2019, similar to its capacity in the third quarter.
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'Looking forward through the end of the year, the airline expects the strong Covid recovery trends to continue to overcome the recessionary pressures in the macroeconomic environment,' United said in an earnings release.
'The airline now expects fourth-quarter adjusted operating margin to be above 2019 for the first time.'
The carrier posted a third-quarter profit of US$942 million, down 8 per cent from three years ago, and $12.88 billion in revenue, which was ahead of analysts' estimates and up 13 per cent from 2019, reports CNBC.
The strong summer travel season and sunny outlook for the rest of the year indicate consumers are willing to continue to spend on trips, a turnaround from early in the pandemic when Covid-19 restrictions devastated demand.
Delta Air Lines last week said it brought in record revenue for the third quarter and forecast another profit for the fourth quarter.
The upbeat outlooks from airline executives contrast with other sectors that have struggled this year, including parts of the retail industry and some streaming platforms that were beneficiaries of lockdowns early in the pandemic.
US airline executives have recently noted strong demand to Europe well past the summer peak and into the fall, and are keeping more capacity in those markets in response.
Airlines remain constrained in how many flights they can offer as aircraft deliveries run late because of supply chain problems and other issues, and carriers scramble to hire and train new staff, particularly pilots.
Limited supply of flights is keeping fares up. United said its third-quarter revenue per available seat mile was up more than 25 per cent from three years earlier. For the current quarter, it expects that metric to be up by as much as that amount compared with 2019.
Meanwhile, the carrier said its fourth-quarter capacity will likely be down about 10 per cent compared with 2019, similar to its capacity in the third quarter.
SeaNews Turkey