United, American Say Unit Revenue Better Than Expected
October 11 2016 - 10:10AM
Dow Jones News
American Airlines Group Inc. and United Continental Holdings
Inc., the nation's No. 1 and No. 3 airlines, indicated upbeat
performance in September, when carriers expected higher Labor Day
demand than last year.
Earlier Tuesday morning, Southwest Airlines Co. reported a 7.9%
increase in September traffic.
American shares rose 2.1% in recent premarket trading as United
stock rose 1.4%. The news also lifted shares of JetBlue Airways
Corp., up 1.2%, and Delta Air Lines Inc., up 1.5%. Shares of
Southwest rose 1.1%.
American said it expects unit revenue in the third quarter to
fall a less-than-expected 2% to 3% year-over-year, compared with
its prior guidance of a 3% to 5% drop.
United now anticipates third-quarter unit revenue—the key metric
in the industry that measures the amount taken in for each
passenger flown a mile—to decline 5.5% to 6% compared with the
year-ago period. It previously expected unit revenue to fall 5.5%
to 7.5%. The result was near the top end of the initial guidance
range "largely due to better than expected September close-in
bookings driven by the timing of certain holidays."
United said its passenger traffic improved 3.9% in September
versus the year-ago period while American reported a 1.7%
decline.
Airlines for America, the leading industry trade group,
previously said the major U.S. airlines anticipated demand to climb
4% over the seven-day Labor Day period compared with 2015. Both
United and American are members of the group.
Write to Joshua Jamerson at joshua.jamerson@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 11, 2016 09:55 ET (13:55 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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