United Airlines' passenger revenue declined 0.9 percent year
over year to $8.5 billion in the third quarter as the carrier took a $185
million income hit from hurricane-related flight cancellations. The carrier cancelled
about 8,300 flights in southeastern Texas, Florida and the Caribbean, which
were hit by hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria during the quarter. Harvey was a
particularly hard impact on United's Houston hub, though the carrier returned
to operations "quicker than expected" after the catastrophic storm,
according to United president Scott Kirby.
United also reported a continued
dramatic decline of involuntary denied boarding. CEO Oscar Munoz said such
instances were down 92 percent year over year in the quarter, including 28 days
in which no passengers were involuntarily denied. Prior to the quarter, the
carrier did not go a single day without it happening, Munoz said. United overhauled
its policies after a widely publicized incident in which a passenger was
forcibly removed from a flight earlier this year.
Traffic rose 1.7 percent year over year in the third quarter
as United increased capacity 3 percent, pushing load factor down 1.1 percentage
points to 84.4 percent. Yield declined 2.5 percent year over year.
United
reported a net income of $637 million, down from $965 million in the third
quarter of 2016. In addition to hurricanes, United also faced a 6 percent
increase in operating expenses during the quarter, largely a result of higher
fuel and labor expenses.