United Airlines fourth quarter profit ahead of expectations

• Q4 pre-tax margin up 3.2 points year-over-year, 3.5 points on an adjusted basis1
• Finished the year first in on-time departures at all seven United hubs
• Sees robust demand in the first quarter 2025 as industry transformation is well underway

United Airlines (UAL) today reported full-year and fourth-quarter 2024 financial results. The company had full-year pre-tax earnings of $4.2 billion, with a pre-tax margin of 7.3%; adjusted pre-tax earnings¹ of $4.6 billion, with an adjusted pre-tax margin¹ of 8.1%. The company also achieved full-year diluted earnings per share of $9.45; adjusted diluted earnings per share¹ of $10.61, at the better end of the 2024 guidance provided at the start of the year of $9.00 to $11.00.

In 2024, United continued strong execution on its United Next plan. The company's investments have set United apart and customers continue to show more preference for the United brand with strong demand for all products: in the quarter premium revenue was up 10%, corporate revenue was up 7% and revenue from Basic Economy was up 20% year-over-year. Other revenue streams like loyalty and cargo had robust growth in the quarter with revenues up 12% and 30% year-over-year, respectively. Looking ahead to 2025 United sees robust demand trends in the first quarter with domestic RASM expected to turn solidly positive year-over-year, as well as continued improvement in international RASM.

For the full year, the company operated the most flights and carried the most customers in its history. United finished first in on-time performance at all seven of its U.S. hubs as a result of significant investments in its people, airports and technology, resulting in year-over-year improvement in customer satisfaction.

"United had a unique strategy coming out of COVID and our people have delivered for customers leading to a structurally and permanently changed industry," said United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby. "2024 was a strong year across the board for United as we've become the leading global airline and we enter 2025 with demand trends continuing to accelerate which puts us on the path to double-digit pre-tax margins."

Fourth-Quarter Financial Results

• Capacity up 6.2% compared to fourth-quarter 2023.
• Total operating revenue of $14.7 billion, up 7.8% compared to fourth-quarter 2023.
• TRASM up 1.6% compared to fourth-quarter 2023.
• CASM down 1.6%, and CASM-ex¹ up 5.0%, compared to fourth-quarter 2023.
• Pre-tax earnings of $1.3 billion, with a pre-tax margin of 8.9%; adjusted pre-tax earnings¹ of $1.4 billion, with an adjusted pre-tax margin¹ of 9.7%.
• Net income of $1.0 billion; adjusted net income¹ of $1.1 billion.
• Diluted earnings per share of $2.95; adjusted diluted earnings per share¹ of $3.26.
• Average fuel price per gallon of $2.40.
• Repurchased approximately $81 million of shares; over $1.4 billion remaining in authorization.

Full-Year Financial Results

• Pre-tax earnings of $4.2 billion, with a pre-tax margin of 7.3%; adjusted pre-tax earnings¹ of $4.6 billion, with an adjusted pre-tax margin¹ of 8.1%.
• Net income of $3.1 billion; adjusted net income¹ of $3.5 billion.
• Diluted earnings per share of $9.45; adjusted diluted earnings per share¹ of $10.61.
• Ending available liquidity² of $17.4 billion.
• Total debt, finance lease obligations and other financial liabilities of $28.7 billion at year end.
• Net leverage¹ of 2.4x.
• Generated $9.4 billion of operating cash flow.
• Generated $3.4 billion of free cash flow¹.

Key Highlights

• Set the company record for most customers carried in a year at nearly 174 million system wide and an average of 4,340 daily flights, operating 145 more mainline flights per day compared to 2023.
• Announced an industry-leading agreement with SpaceX to bring Starlink's Wi-Fi service to more than 1,000 of the airline's mainline and regional aircraft, providing MileagePlus® members free, fast, reliable internet connectivity on some passenger flights as soon as Spring 2025.
• Launched Kinective Media^SM by United Airlines – the first media network that uses insights from travel behaviors to connect customers to personalized advertising, experiences and offers from leading brands.
• Announced MileagePlus® pooling, making United the first major U.S. airline to allow customers to share and redeem miles in one linked account, providing additional value to loyalty members, their friends and loved ones.
• United announced the largest international expansion in the airline's history, bringing service to nine new international destinations for Summer 2025, eight of which are not served by any other U.S. carrier: Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; Nuuk, Greenland; Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Palermo, Italy; Bilbao, Spain; Faro, Portugal; Madeira Island, Portugal; Puerto Escondido, Mexico; and Dakar, Senegal.
• Surpassed 300 new and retrofit aircraft in 2024 featuring United's signature interior with bigger bins, seatback screens at every seat and Bluetooth connectivity, resulting in a 4.5 point improvement in customer satisfaction with inflight entertainment.
• United continued to invest in its employees and facilities in 2024, with the opening of an expanded Flight Training Center at the Denver hub and work beginning for a new state-of-the-art Inflight Training Center near the airline's Washington, D.C. hub.
• United became the first airline to purchase sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at Chicago O'Hare International Airport. In 2024, the airline voluntarily operated with SAF at Amsterdam Airport Schipol, Los Angeles International Airport, London Heathrow, Chicago O'Hare and San Francisco International Airport.

Customer Experience

• In the fourth quarter, achieved a 6% increase year-over-year of customers providing a perfect score of 10 on the customer satisfaction scale the Net Promoter Score.
• Thanks to customer enhancements like in-app Spanish translations and a new Basic Economy digital check-in experience, achieved the highest quarterly rate for digital check-ins in two years for the fourth quarter.
• Began utilizing generative AI on united.com to expedite customer search and in the airline's industry-leading flight status notification system, further enabling real-time flight status updates to customers.
• Over half of customers who experienced a cancellation in the fourth quarter resolved their issues via self-service or United's automated solutions.
• The United app continues to be the most downloaded airline app as adoption grows amongst customers, with an eight-point increase in day-of travel utilization year-over-year.
• United launched a new seat preference feature that automatically re-seats customers when their preferred seat becomes available.
• Announced Laurent-Perrier as United's champagne provider for the United Polaris® wine program in 2025, offering Laurent-Perrier La Cuvée in the United Polaris cabin and lounges.
• Began offering upgraded economy cabin wines, partnering with women-owned brands Just Enough Wines and Maker Wine to offer Rosé, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Sparkling to customers.

Operations

• In the fourth quarter, set a company record for number of passengers carried in a single quarter. In December, the airline recorded its busiest three days in company history based on customers carried.
• The airline finished the fourth quarter with the best on-time departure rate amongst major U.S. airlines in all seven of United's U.S. hub locations, making it the 31st quarter in a row leading on time departure at United's Chicago O'Hare hub and 11th in a row leading United's Denver hub.
• For the year, United was second amongst the eight largest U.S. airlines in on-time departures and on-time arrivals, setting the company record for on-time performance in February, September and October.
• The airline operated a record number of 100% completion days for United Express in a year, achieving 88 total days with no cancellations in 2024 – 13 days more than in 2023.
• In 2024, United achieved its third best year in on-time arrival.
• Opened a state-of-the-art cargo facility at the New York/Newark airport expanding the airline's cargo space at the hub to 319,000 square feet.

Network

• United announced eight new international routes to existing destinations for Summer 2025 in the fourth quarter, expanding customer access to some of the most popular international destinations from more of the airline's domestic hubs.
• In the fourth quarter, United began service of its largest international winter schedule ever, flying nearly 4,600 flights per day in peak winter, beginning service to three new international destinations — Marrakesh, Morocco; Cebu, Philippines and Medellin, Colombia — and two new international routes with service from San Francisco to Monterrey, Mexico and Belize City, Belize.
• With the addition of nearly 30% more seats to popular ski markets and 1,500 additional flights to sun destinations, United operated its largest domestic schedule in fourth quarter history, at 11% more flights than last year.
• In 2024, United flew the largest international schedule of any U.S. carrier by available seat miles – 35% larger than the next largest U.S. carrier – with nearly 700 international flights per day to 133 destinations across 67 countries. This included the largest schedule to Europe in United's history.
• United operated its largest-ever domestic schedule in 2024 at 1.3 million flights to over 200 cities, including introducing service on over 30 new routes.
• United ensured customers could make memories at big events in 2024, adding over 250 flights and increasing capacity on 400 more for high-demand events like the College Football playoff and the Republican and Democratic National Conventions.
• United expects to serve more international destinations across the Atlantic and Pacific than all other U.S. carriers combined in 2025, with 800 daily flights to and from 147 international destinations, including nearly 40 not served by any other U.S. airline.

Employees and Communities

• United hosted its annual Fantasy Flights from 13 airports, partnering with local nonprofits and hospitals to provide a holiday experience for children and their families.
• United, along with customers, donated over five million miles to Make-A-Wish America in the airline's Giving Tuesday campaign, helping the organization to raise nearly $650,000 in cash, and donating $500,000 in travel certificates.
• Throughout 2024, nearly 8,000 United employees volunteered more than 64,000 hours in communities around the world, additionally upcycling close to 89,500 amenity kits with Good360 and packaging nearly 400,000 nutritious meals with Rise Against Hunger.
• United continues to attract top talent, receiving over 40,000 applications for its 2025 Summer Internship and Spring Co-Op Internship programs, in addition to hiring over 10,000 employees worldwide in 2024.
• United transported nearly 1.3 billion pounds of cargo in 2024, including approximately 43 million pounds of medical shipments and 1.1 million pounds of military shipments.
• Through the airline's Miles on a Mission^SM program, United activated a donation of more than 70 million miles from MileagePlus® members in 2024 to support nearly 100 participating organizations.
• United flew approximately 157 tons of relief supplies and over 1,000 responders from 57 nonprofits to support 36 disasters and other humanitarian crises in 2024, assisting over one million people affected by disasters or humanitarian crises, including those in Gaza, Ukraine, Haiti, Sudan, and Brazil and those affected by hurricanes Beryl, Milton and Helene.
• Celebrated the five-year anniversary of United's Special Olympics Service Ambassador (SOSA) program, an employment program that hires Special Olympics athletes to support customers in four of United's hub airports.
• Launched Somos, a new employee Business Resource Group focused on supporting and championing allyship for Latino and Hispanic employees.

Awards

• Throughout 2024, United and its employees were recognized with over 50 awards including TIME's 100 Most Influential Companies 2024, Newsweek America's Best Loyalty Programs 2024, Forbes Best Large Employers 2024, and Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies.

Earnings Call

UAL will hold a conference call to discuss full-year and fourth-quarter financial results, as well as its financial and operational outlook for the first-quarter 2025 and beyond, on Wednesday, January 22, 2025 at 9:30 a.m. CST/10:30 a.m. EST. A live, listen-only webcast of the conference call will be available at ir.united.com. The webcast will be available for replay within 24 hours of the conference call and then archived on the website.

Outlook

This press release should be read in conjunction with the company's Investor Update issued in connection with this quarterly earnings announcement, which provides additional information on the company's business outlook (including certain financial and operational guidance) and is furnished with this press release to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on a Current Report on Form 8-K. The Investor Update is also available at ir.united.com. Management will also discuss certain business outlook items, including providing certain first quarter and full year 2025 financial targets, during the quarterly earnings conference call.

The company's business outlook is subject to risks and uncertainties applicable to all forward-looking statements as described elsewhere in this press release. Please see the section entitled "Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements."