After United Airlines overhauled its policy regarding
overbooking and bumping, involuntary denied boarding decreased 79 percent year
over year in May and 88 percent year over year in June for the carrier. United announced
the changes—reducing overbooking on flights where passengers historically have
been reluctant to volunteer and bumping up its compensation cap to $10,000—in
April, following the widely
publicized forcible removal of a passenger. In the carrier's earnings call
on July 19, CEO Oscar Munoz called those changes "a paradigm shift in our
culture."
United's on-time performance for the second quarter was its highest
quarterly performance since its merger with Continental, and it had the fewest
cancellations for the quarter among its major competitors.
Passenger revenue increased 6.4 percent year over year to
$8.6 billion. Corporate business rose 6 percent year over year, as corporate
demand was "strong throughout the quarter," United president Scott
Kirby said. Traffic increased 4.3 percent as United grew capacity 4.2 percent,
keeping load factor flat at 83.5 percent. Yield increased 2 percent.
United
reported a net income of $818 million, up from $588 million in the second
quarter of 2016.