Strong revenue growth—including corporate travel revenue—and tighter cost controls helped United offset rising fuel costs in the second quarter.
Corporate revenue rose year over year by a double-digit percentage, chief commercial officer and EVP Andrew Nocella said on the carrier's earnings call, and a strong technology sector in particular helped boost that revenue. Overall, passenger revenue rose 8 percent year over year to $9.9 billion during the quarter.
Unit revenue grew for all regions except Latin America, where Mexico's beach markets garnered lower demand. Unit revenue growth was strongest on transatlantic routes, up 7.9 percent, as United's load factor rose in both economy and premium cabins. On transpacific routes, unit revenue increased 3.4 percent, the first positive quarter in about four years, thanks to premium economy demand and recovering demand to China, Nocella said.
United's systemwide traffic rose 6.4 percent as capacity increased 4.8 percent, pushing load factor up 1.3 percentage points to 84.8 percent. Yield moved up 1.5 percent.
Fuel costs, however, jumped nearly 35 percent year over year during the quarter. While United made up about three-quarters of that increase through higher revenue and cost controls, the carrier might cut capacity where necessary to make up the remainder of those costs, United president Scott Kirby said.
United reported a net income of $684 million for the second quarter, down from $821 million for the second quarter of 2017.
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