Codeshare partners Northwest and Continental airlines, the nation's fourth and fifth largest carriers, respectively, today both posted net profits for the third quarter. Mutual partner Delta Air Lines, the only other U.S. major to announce third-quarter numbers this week, on Tuesday said it lost $164 million, roughly half the loss recorded in last year's third quarter.
At Northwest, a $42 million net profit followed a $46 million loss a year ago. "While it is encouraging to report a profit, the third quarter is traditionally strong for the industry due to greater demand in the summer months," noted CEO Richard Anderson. Northwest in the quarter increased passenger unit revenues and passenger load factor, but experienced lower passenger revenues and yields as unit costs edged higher.
Continental's quarterly gain of $133 million included $100 million from selling 17 million shares of ExpressJet stock. The carrier increased passenger revenues 7.4 percent, revenue passenger miles 3.2 percent, passenger unit revenues 4.8 percent and load factor by 4.3 points. Yields were marginally down, however, and unit costs rose 1.2 percent.
For both Continental and Northwest, the third quarter was the second consecutive quarter of net profitability, though second-quarter numbers were heavily padded by a cash infusion from the federal government
(BTN, Aug. 11).
Overall, analysts predicted the third quarter will represent the industry's first operating profit in nearly three years. Most of the other major carriers will report numbers next week.