You might also like:
United Airlines’ passenger revenue declined 0.9% year over year to $8.5 billion in the third quarter as the carrier took a $185 million income hit from hurricane-related flight cancellations. The carrier cancelled about 8,300 flights in southeastern Texas, Florida and the Caribbean, which were hit by hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria during the quarter.
Harvey had a particularly hard impact on United’s Houston hub, though the carrier returned to operations “quicker than expected” after the catastrophic storm, according to United president Scott Kirby.
United also reported a continued dramatic decline of involuntary denied boarding. CEO Oscar Munoz said such instances were down 92% in the quarter, including 28 days in which no passengers were involuntarily denied. Prior to the quarter, the carrier did not go a single day without it happening, Munoz said.
United overhauled its policies after a widely publicized incident in which a passenger was forcibly removed from a flight earlier this year.
Traffic rose 1.7% in the third quarter as United increased capacity 3%, pushing load factor down 1.1 percentage points to 84.4%. Yield declined 2.5% year over year.
United reported net income of $637 million, down from $965 million in the third quarter of 2016. In addition to hurricanes, United also faced a 6% increase in operating expenses during the quarter, largely a result of higher fuel and labor expenses.
Source: travelweekly.com