Originally Posted by
APC225
CHICAGO, Oct. 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- United Continental Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: UAL) today reported third-quarter 2012 net income of $520 million, or $1.35 per diluted share, excluding $514 million of net special charges. Including special charges, UAL reported third-quarter 2012 net income of $6 million, or $0.02 per diluted share.
UAL ended the third quarter with $7.2 billion in unrestricted liquidity.
"I want to thank my co-workers for working together to help us earn more than half a billion dollars of profit this quarter," said Jeff Smisek, UAL's president and chief executive officer. "We overcame tough operational challenges and remain focused on running a reliable airline, delivering to our customers the benefits of our product investments and delivering to our co-workers tools and training to provide good customer service."
For the third quarter of 2012, total revenue was $9.9 billion, a decrease of 2.6 percent year-over-year. Third-quarter consolidated passenger revenue decreased 2.6 percent to $8.8 billion, compared to the same period in 2011.
Now, now, APC...you forgot to mention the "managing expectations message" which always seems to be released to the employees in conjunction with earnings.
From the
United Daily from Wednesday, October 24th:
Delta and US Airways report earnings, cost reduction focus
Delta Air Lines (DAL) and US Airways (LCC) reported third-quarter financial results on Wednesday, and Southwest Airlines (LUV) reported earnings last week. On their respective earnings calls, both
DAL and LUV emphasized that reducing and controlling costs will be a priority.
DAL earned net income of $1.05 billion this quarter, or $1.23 per share, compared with $549 million, or 65 cents, a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, DAL earned $768 million of net profit, or 90 cents per share. LCC reported its net income was $245 million, or $1.24 a share, in the third quarter, compared with $76 million, or 41 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, LCC’s profit was 98 cents a share in the latest period.
DAL announced that it is “undertaking $1 billion
structural cost reduction in bid to hold down nonfuel unit costs,” according to Reuters. Last week, LUV said it planned to manage hiring over the next year in
an aggressive move to cut overhead costs by $100 million.
United is one of the highest cost airlines, with unit cost, or CASM – cost per available seat mile – just below that of American Airlines. While we don’t need to be the lowest-cost carrier in the skies,
we do need to stay competitive. As we manage our business for long-term profitability,
we need to eliminate costs and operate more efficiently, so our CASM doesn't become uncompetitive. Read more about CASM and our cost management efforts in the
Jeff’s Journal posting of June 4.
We announce our third-quarter financial results on Thursday.
I like the fact that we don't have to be the lowest-cost carrier in the skies, just that we need to have the highest compensated executive ranks in the US aviation industry. Why does that always seem to be left out of their "costs are too high" message?
Personally I don't think the shareholders are getting a deal for the money that we are giving the executives. Every other airline has reported increases in profits and the UCH profit this quarter fell. Makes them worth every penny they earn (the operative word of course is penny).