The American company United Airlines warned Monday that its turnover for the first quarter should be down 66% compared to the same period of 2019, before the pandemic hits air traffic hard.
This decline is in line with the forecasts of the company, which warned in January that it expected revenues to drop from 65% to 70% for the first three months of the year, specifies a document sent to the authority. American Stock Market (SEC).
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United, which is due to release its final results on April 19, says it currently has $ 21 billion in cash in its coffers.
Airlines have gone through severe financial turmoil with the drop in airline ticket sales that accompanied the spread of Covid-19 in the spring of 2020.
"Acceleration" of demand
But US government aid and drastic cost-cutting measures have kept their heads above water.
And in recent weeks, they have benefited in the United States from a certain resumption of air traffic between the vaccination campaigns and the spring break.
United had already indicated in early April that they would start hiring airline pilots again to cope with the resumption of activity.
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She confirmed on Monday that she "
observed an acceleration in customer demand for travel and new bookings, resulting in a positive average cash flow
" in March.
For the quarter as a whole, the company is expected to have reduced the rate at which it burns cash, to around $ 9 million per day from $ 19 million per day in the fourth quarter of 2020.
