UAL records biggest profit in decade

United Airlines' parent company, UAL Corporation, announced its 2010 second quarter results, recording a USD430 million net profit excluding charges, the largest since 1999.

This is the company's first quarterly profit since 2007 and is a USD245 million improvement from the corresponding period last year.

"We are clearly on the right path toward our goal of achieving sustained and sufficient profitability across the economic cycle," UAL Corporation Chief Financial Officer Kathryn Mikells said.

"While there is much more work needed, our current results, including improvements in unit revenue, cost control, cash flow and profit margin, demonstrate substantial progress against our objective."

United Airlines' consolidated passenger revenue per available seat mile (PRASM) increased 26.9 per cent in the 2010 second quarter over the same quarter in 2009, while consolidated load factor grew 2.3 points and consolidated yield increased by 23.6 per cent.

Cargo revenue rose 57 per cent year over year for the quarter.

In the second quarter, UAL Corporation generated an operating cash flow of USD874 million, closing the quarter with a cash balance of USD5.2 billion.

United Airlines attributed the growth to "continued improvements in demand [which] drove strength in both volume and yields across all regions, particularly trans-Pacific markets".

"The United team continues to execute across our critical operating, service and financial metrics and this strong performance builds momentum that we take into our planned merger with Continental Airlines later this year," UAL Corporation President Glenn Tilton Said.

In May, United Airlines announced a merger agreement with Continental Airlines, Continental president, Jeff Smisek then saying, "Together, we will have the financial strength necessary to make critical investments to continue to improve our products and services and to achieve and sustain profitability."