Both demand and pricing picked up for United Airlines last
year, and that has continued in the first weeks of this year, executives said
during the carrier's earnings call.
Passenger revenue increased 0.4 percent year over year to
$7.8 billion during the quarter, and yield declined 0.3 percent. Corporate
demand growth has been "positive" since the U.S. presidential
election, according to United president Scott Kirby.
Traffic rose 1.6 percent, and capacity increased 2 percent.
Load factor declined 0.3 percentage points to 82.4 percent.
United reported a net income of $397 million for the
quarter, down from $823 million in the fourth quarter of 2015. Net income for
the full-year 2016 was $2.3 billion, down from $7.3 billion in 2015. The
decline stemmed largely from a tax-related benefit in 2015.
In
terms of operations, 2016 was United's best year in its history, according to
the carrier. On-time performance improved 3.2 percentage points to 81.3 percent,
and United's completion factor improved 0.3 percentage points to 99 percent.