The American company United Airlines, which announced solid results for the summer quarter on Tuesday, assures that inflation and the economic difficulties do not seem to affect the recovery in demand for plane tickets, pent up during the pandemic.
By the end of the year, United
'expects strong post-Covid recovery trends to continue to outweigh recessionary pressures'
, the group said in a statement.
The company even expects its adjusted operating margin in the fourth quarter to be, for the first time, higher than the same period in 2019, a benchmark year for air transport since traffic suddenly fell with the pandemic.
And United anticipates adjusted earnings per share of 2 to 2.5 dollars, well above the 98 cents expected on average by analysts.
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Its stock jumped more than 8% in electronic trading following the close of Wall Street.
Going forward, the company believes it can continue to benefit from
“sustainable trends that can more than offset any economic difficulties”
: the desire of many consumers to make up for lost trips during the pandemic, teleworking which offers more flexibility to travel and external challenges that limit the capacity of airlines as a whole.
United thus offered nearly 10% fewer seats in the third quarter than over the same period in 2019. But its turnover, driven by the rise in ticket prices, increased by 13% to 12.9 billion. dollars.
Its expenses have, as a whole, jumped by 15%, driven by the explosion of the sums devoted to fuel (+63%).
Salary expenses for their part fell by 7%, the company having encouraged many employees to voluntary departures during the pandemic.
United ultimately posted a net profit of $942 million, down 8% from 2019. Its counterpart Delta Air Lines also said last week that it expects demand to remain robust in air traffic from United. here at the end of the year.