But United’s sunnier outlook for the year appears to have calmed some investor worries. The airline expects to earn a full-year per-share profit of between $7.25 and $8.75, up from an estimate in April of $7.00 to $8.50.
The revenue per each seat United flew a mile in the last quarter, a key measure of performance for airlines, rose 2.8 percent in the second quarter. The company said it expects that to grow at an even faster pace, as much as 6 percent, in the three months ending in September.
United’s per-share profits on an adjusted basis came in at $3.23 a share, above the $3.07 a share analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected. The company’s adjusted EPS was boosted, in part, because fewer shares were outstanding during the quarter. United said it repurchased $407 million of its common shares in the second quarter.
“We delivered great financial results and strong operational performance in the second quarter despite the significant headwind of higher fuel prices,” Munoz said in a statement.
American Airlines shares tumbled more than 8 percent last week after the world’s largest carrier trimmed its revenue outlook, citing weakness in the domestic market, its largest. American’s shares are off close to 30 percent this year. Delta, its closest competitor by passenger traffic, is down close to 9 percent. United shares are up nearly 8 percent, the only one of the big U.S. airlines whose shares are up so far this year.
American Airlines and Southwest both report second-quarter earnings on July 26.
United will hold a call with analysts on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. ET to discuss its results and outlook.
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