United Airlines had a strong second quarter for business travel revenue and demand, according to United chief commercial officer Andrew Nocella, speaking on a Thursday morning earnings call.
Because of the sector's strength, Nocella added that United has adjusted its "revenue management posture" to save more seats for close-in business demand.
"Business travel was exceptionally strong in Q2, with contracted business revenues flown up an impressive 27 percent year over year and bookings up 30 percent," Nocella said. Technology, financial services and professional services verticals led that growth.
The carrier also grew its corporate share year over year during the quarter "in all of our hubs," Nocella said. "The same positive business demand trends continued into early July and are expected to continue for the remainder of the year."
Nocella noted that after the pandemic, the larger corporates trailed their smaller counterparts in recovery "by a pretty significant amount." But in the last few quarters, the larger corporates have accelerated above the smaller corporates, "but not by a lot, they're just above," he said.
In addition, the load factor contribution of business travel from all channels in the quarter was up about half a point year over year, Nocella said. "But it's still five points of our load factor lower than it used to be pre-Covid. If corporate travel continues to accelerate and closes that gap, basically an 80 percent yield premium versus leisure, that's a significant amount of upside. We are not assuming that, but the half-point of load-factor growth we saw was great."
Nocella said Q2 transatlantic load factors across Polaris, United's business-class cabin, increased for business and leisure travel alike. "If we can continue to drive premium leisure growth as we drive corporate growth, that's a lot of upside, and one of the reasons why we're bullish late this year and into 2027."
United Q2 Metrics
United's second-quarter passenger revenue increased 16.4 percent year over year to $16.1 billion. Total revenue was up 16 percent to nearly $17.7 billion. Net income was $805 million compared with $973 million a year prior. Domestic passenger revenue increased 20.3 percent compared with Q2 2025, while international was up 11.2 percent.
Second-quarter capacity increased 3.5 percent year over year. The average fuel price was $4.19 per gallon, compared with $2.34 a year prior. The carrier's Q2 fuel costs increased 84.1 percent for the period to $5.1 billion.
United's third-quarter fuel costs are projected to average $3.69 per gallon, based on the July 14 curve, according to CFO Michael Leskinen.
The carrier recovered about half of its second-quarter fuel increase and expects in the third quarter to recover 80 percent to 90 percent of its expected fuel increase and 100 percent by the fourth quarter, according to United.
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