United loses $1.36 billion as business travel remains weak

United Airlines posted a $1.36 billion loss in the first quarter and will need a rebound in lucrative business and international travel before it returns to profitability.

The loss reported Monday would have been even wider without federal payroll aid, but it was still slightly worse than expected. However, investors are far more interested in how quickly United and other airlines can recover from their pandemic-caused financial crisis.

United executives have said recently that bookings are rising ahead of the peak summer vacation season, and they expect that trend to grow stronger as more Americans get vaccinated against COVID-19. The airline predicted that a number of financial measures will improve from the first quarter into the second.

Still, United and rivals American Airlines and Delta Air Lines depend on high-fare business and international travellers for an outsized share of revenue, and nobody knows exactly when those customers will come back.

United announced separately on Monday that it plans to operate new flights to Greece, Croatia and Iceland in July. The airline is betting that travel restrictions will ease, allowing vaccinated vacationers to visit more places.

United executives declined to comment until talking to analysts on Tuesday. CEO Scott Kirby said in a statement that executives “now see a clear path to profitability. We’re encouraged by the strong evidence of pent-up demand for air travel” and can match it to meet targets for a financial recovery.

The airline said in a news release that it turned cash-flow positive in March, excluding certain costs. United expects positive earnings before interest, taxes and certain other expenses later this year, assuming that business and international travel return to 30% of their pre-pandemic levels.

United said it won’t be profitable on a normal accounting basis until those sectors return to 65% of their 2019 levels, and it didn’t offer a forecast for when that might happen.

It will be a smaller United Airlines. Like other U.S. carriers, United convinced thousands of employees to leave voluntarily — the terms of federal aid prohibited furloughs — and it aims to cut permanent costs by $2 billion a year.

Chicago-based United’s first-quarter loss was narrower than a year ago, when it lost $1.70 billion. The airline earned a profit of $292 million in the same quarter of 2019.

Without payroll relief from taxpayers and other temporary items, United would have lost $2.45 billion, or $7.50 per share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected a loss of $7.08 per share.

Revenue was $3.22 billion, a 60% drop from a year earlier and 66% lower than the same quarter in 2019. Analysts expected $3.26 billion.

United filled 57% of its seats in the first quarter, compared to 71% a year ago. International flights were only 43% full even though they were far fewer of them, as the airline reduced its schedule to match weak ticket sales.

Cargo was a bright spot, nearly doubling from a year ago. Like other carriers, United took advantage of space in the bellies of its planes to carry more goods. Still, cargo accounted for only 15% of United’s revenue, a share that is likely to gradually decline over the next several quarters as air freight is replaced by passenger bags.

Shares of United Airlines Holdings Inc. fell 2% in extended trading after the release of its earnings report. They closed Monday’s regular session down 1.6%.

David Koenig, The Associated Press