United Airlines Announces Financial Results - Expects Highest Quarterly Revenue in Company History in Q2

First quarter results consistent with company guidance

Expects 10% operating margin for Q2; and to be profitable for FY22

Expects Q2 TRASM up about 17%

Business and long-haul international bookings accelerating rapidly

CHICAGO, April 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- United Airlines (UAL) today reported first quarter 2022 financial results and announced it expects to return to profitability in the second quarter on a robust operating revenue outlook, including total revenue per available seat mile (TRASM) of approximately 17% over 2019, the strongest second quarter revenue guidance in company history. The company expects to be solidly profitable in the second quarter with an approximate 10% operating margin (on both a GAAP and adjusted basis¹), just 2.9 points less than 2019 operating margin and 3.5 points less than 2019 adjusted operating margin, despite cost headwinds driven by the recent fuel price spike.

As the company's Pratt & Whitney-powered Boeing 777 aircraft are expected to gradually return to service, the company will continue to add back capacity based on its ability to best serve customers and will take a long-term view of profitability by not sacrificing operational reliability. The company is also seeing indications that business travel is rapidly returning and expects further improvement in international travel, including Asia.

The airline has a bullish outlook on the future – bolstered by this persistent strength of demand and the fact that it is nearing 2019 operating margins – and once again reiterated confidence in its longer term United Next targets of adjusted pre-tax margin² of approximately 9% in 2023 and about 14% in 2026. This confidence is underpinned by the company's current expectation to report a profit for the full year 2022.

"I am proud of the United team that once again managed to overcome the challenges of the quarter and prioritized high operating reliability for our customers by gradually adding back capacity. Our team continues to do an outstanding job of caring for our customers," said United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby. "The demand environment is the strongest it's been in my 30 years in the industry – and United and its customers will benefit more than any other airline. We're now seeing clear evidence that the second quarter will be an historic inflection point for our business. It leaves me more optimistic than ever about United's future."

First Quarter Financial Results

• Reported first quarter 2022 capacity down 19% compared to first quarter 2019.

• Reported first quarter 2022 net loss of $1.4 billion, adjusted net loss³ of $1.4 billion.

• Reported first quarter 2022 total operating revenue of $7.6 billion, down 21% compared to first quarter 2019.

• Reported first quarter 2022 TRASM of down 3% compared to first quarter 2019.

• Reported first quarter 2022 Cost Per Available Seat Mile (CASM) of up 21%, and CASM-ex³ of up 18%, compared to first quarter 2019.

• Reported first quarter 2022 operating loss of $1.4 billion, adjusted operating loss³ of $1.4 billion.

• Reported first quarter 2022 fuel price of approximately $2.88 per gallon.

• Reported first quarter 2022 pre-tax margin of negative 23.2%, negative 23.2% on an adjusted³ basis.

• Reported first quarter 2022 ending available liquidity⁴ of $20 billion.

• Reported a decline in total debt of over $700 million.

Operational Performance

• Finished second among mainline carriers for completion for the quarter.

• Achieved best first quarter baggage handling performance in the last 6 years excluding the pandemic.

• Protected 225,000 passengers' trips with ConnectionSaver in Q1.

• Achieved the highest Net Promoter Score (NPS) for inflight satisfaction.

Key Highlights

• Officially opened the United Aviate Academy with the goal of training 5,000 new pilots by 2030.  United is the only major U.S. airline to own a flight training school and the historic inaugural pilot class is 80% women or people of color.

• United Airlines Ventures and Oxy Low Carbon Ventures announced an investment in biotech firm Cemvita Factory to commercialize the production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel intended to be developed through a revolutionary new process using CO₂ and synthetic microbes.
    
• Debuted free "bag drop shortcut" – a simple way for customers at United's U.S. hubs to skip the line, check their bag in a minute or less on average, and get to their flight.

Network

• Announced plans to expand service to one of the world's most popular vacation destinations by offering three nonstop flights per week, year-round, between New York/Newark and Cape Town International Airport, subject to government approval.

• Resumed 19 International routes and relaunched service to six cities not served since the beginning of the pandemic including Berlin; Edinburgh, Scotland; Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands; Porto, Portugal; Singapore; and Shannon, Ireland.

• Completed all United Polaris® lounge re-openings with the addition of San Francisco International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport.

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)

• U.S. President Joe Biden announced his intent to appoint United President Brett Hart to the Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

• Along with the PGA TOUR, announced that it will award 51 golf teams at Historically Black Colleges and Universities with more than half a million dollars in grants to fund travel for golf tournaments and recruiting efforts.

• The United Aviate Academy announced it aims to potentially quadruple the size of its fleet of training aircraft – adding 25 new, state-of-the-art Cirrus TRAC SR20 aircraft to its current fleet.

• Launched Ukraine relief effort to support flying workers and supplies to areas in need by giving MileagePlus® members the ability to donate cash or miles to United's humanitarian relief partners. To date, more than 31 million miles were donated and over $224,000 raised by MileagePlus members, with an additional approximately 5 million miles and $100,000 matched by United.

• Donated $50,000 to Boulder County Wildfire Relief to support those affected by Colorado wildfires.

• Led Black History Month fundraising campaign – alongside JPMorgan Chase and VISA – supporting Thurgood Marshall College Fund, Leadership Conference Education Fund; NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, and United Negro College Fund.

• Through a combination of cargo-only flights and passenger flights, transported approximately 274 million pounds of freight, which includes nearly 41 million pounds of vital shipments, such as medical kits, personal protective equipment, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment in Q1.

Earnings Call

UAL will hold a conference call to discuss first quarter 2022 financial results, as well as its financial and operational outlook for second quarter 2022 and beyond, on Thursday, April 21, at 9:30 a.m. CT/10:30 a.m. ET. 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 for three months.

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 for the company's second quarter and full year 2022) and is furnished with this press release with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on a Current Report on Form 8-K. The Investor Update is also available through the company's investor relations website at https://ir.united.com. Management will also discuss certain business outlook items 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."

About United

United's shared purpose is "Connecting People. Uniting the World." In 2019, United and United Express® carriers operated more than 1.7 million flights carrying more than 162 million customers. United has the most comprehensive route network among North American carriers, including U.S. mainland hubs in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, New York/Newark, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. For information about how to join the United team, please visit united.com/careers and more information about the company is at ir.united.com. United Airlines Holdings, Inc. is traded on Nasdaq under the symbol "UAL".

Website Information

We routinely post important news and information regarding United on our corporate website, united.com, and our investor relations website, ir.united.com. We use our investor relations website as a primary channel for disclosing key information to our investors, including the timing of future investor conferences and earnings calls, press releases and other information about financial performance, reports filed or furnished with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, information on corporate governance and details related to our annual meeting of shareholders. We may use our investor relations website as a means of disclosing material, non-public information and for complying with our disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. We may also use social media channels to communicate with our investors and the public about our company and other matters, and those communications could be deemed to be material information. The information contained on, or that may be accessed through, our website or social media channels are not incorporated by reference into, and are not a part of, this document.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:
This earnings release and the related attachments and Investor Update (as well as the oral statements made with respect to information contained in this release and the attachments) contain certain "forward-looking statements," within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, relating to, among other things, the potential impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and steps the company plans to take in response thereto and goals, plans and projections regarding the company's financial position, results of operations, market position, capacity, fleet, product development, ESG targets and business strategy. Such forward-looking statements are based on historical performance and current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about the company's future financial results, goals, plans and objectives and involve inherent risks, assumptions and uncertainties, known or unknown, including internal or external factors that could delay, divert or change any of them, that are difficult to predict, may be beyond the company's control and could cause the company's future financial results, goals, plans and objectives to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, the statements. Words such as "should," "could," "would," "will," "may," "expects," "plans," "intends," "anticipates," "indicates," "remains," "believes," "estimates," "projects," "forecast," "guidance," "outlook," "goals", "targets", "confident" and other words and terms of similar meaning and expression are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain such terms. All statements, other than those that relate solely to historical facts, are forward-looking statements.

Additionally, forward-looking statements include conditional statements and statements that identify uncertainties or trends, discuss the possible future effects of known trends or uncertainties, or that indicate that the future effects of known trends or uncertainties cannot be predicted, guaranteed or assured. All forward-looking statements in this report are based upon information available to us on the date of this report. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise, except as required by applicable law or regulation.

Our actual results could differ materially from these forward-looking statements due to numerous factors including, without limitation, the following: the adverse impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic on our business, operating results, financial condition and liquidity; execution risks associated with our strategic operating plan; changes in our network strategy or other factors outside our control resulting in less economic aircraft orders, costs related to modification or termination of aircraft orders or entry into less favorable aircraft orders, as well as any inability to accept or integrate new aircraft into our fleet as planned; any failure to effectively manage, and receive anticipated benefits and returns from, acquisitions, divestitures, investments, joint ventures and other portfolio actions; adverse publicity, harm to our brand, reduced travel demand, potential tort liability and voluntary or mandatory operational restrictions as a result of an accident, catastrophe or incident involving us, our regional carriers, our codeshare partners or another airline; the highly competitive nature of the global airline industry and susceptibility of the industry to price discounting and changes in capacity, including as a result of alliances, joint business arrangements or other consolidations; our reliance on a limited number of suppliers to source a majority of our aircraft and certain parts, and the impact of any failure to obtain timely deliveries, additional equipment or support from any of these suppliers; disruptions to our regional network and United Express flights provided by third-party regional carriers; unfavorable economic and political conditions in the United States and globally; reliance on third-party service providers and the impact of any significant failure of these parties to perform as expected, or interruptions in our relationships with these providers or their provision of services; extended interruptions or disruptions in service at major airports where we operate and space, facility and infrastructure constrains at our hubs or other airports; geopolitical conflict, terrorist attacks or security events; any damage to our reputation or brand image; our reliance on technology and automated systems to operate our business and the impact of any significant failure or disruption of, or failure to effectively integrate and implement, the technology or systems; increasing privacy and data security obligations or a significant data breach; increased use of social media platforms by us, our employees and others; the impacts of union disputes, employee strikes or slowdowns, and other labor-related disruptions on our operations; any failure to attract, train or retain skilled personnel, including our senior management team or other key employees; the monetary and operational costs of compliance with extensive government regulation of the airline industry; current or future litigation and regulatory actions, or failure to comply with the terms of any settlement, order or arrangement relating to these actions; costs, liabilities and risks associated with environmental regulation and climate change, including our climate goals; high and/or volatile fuel prices or significant disruptions in the supply of aircraft fuel; the impacts of our significant amount of financial leverage from fixed obligations, the possibility we may seek material amounts of additional financial liquidity in the short-term, and the impacts of insufficient liquidity on our financial condition and business; failure to comply with financial and other covenants governing our debt, including our MileagePlus® financing agreements; the impacts of the proposed phase out of the London interbank offer rate; limitations on our ability to use our net operating loss carryforwards and certain other tax attributes to offset future taxable income for U.S. federal income tax purposes; our failure to realize the full value of our intangible assets or our long-lived assets, causing us to record impairments; fluctuations in the price of our common stock; the impacts of seasonality and other factors associated with the airline industry; increases in insurance costs or inadequate insurance coverage and other risks and uncertainties set forth in Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors, of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, as well as other risks and uncertainties set forth from time to time in the reports we file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The foregoing list sets forth many, but not all, of the factors that could impact our ability to achieve results described in any forward-looking statements. Investors should understand that it is not possible to predict or identify all such factors and should not consider this list to be a complete statement of all potential risks and uncertainties. In addition, certain forward-looking outlook provided in this release relies on assumptions about the duration and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic, the timing of the return to a more stable business environment, the volatility of aircraft fuel prices, customer behavior changes and return in demand for air travel, among other things (together, the "Recovery Process"). The COVID-19 pandemic and the measures taken in response may continue to impact many aspects of our business, operating results, financial condition and liquidity in a number of ways, including labor shortages (including reductions in available staffing and related impacts to the company's flight schedules and reputation), facility closures and related costs and disruptions to the company's and its business partners' operations, reduced travel demand and consumer spending, increased operating costs, supply chain disruptions, logistics constraints, volatility in the price of our securities, our ability to access capital markets and volatility in the global economy and financial markets generally. If the actual Recovery Process differs materially from our assumptions, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business could be worse than expected, and our actual results may be negatively impacted and may vary materially from our expectations and projections. It is routine for our internal projections and expectations to change as the year or each quarter in the year progresses, and therefore it should be clearly understood that the internal projections, beliefs and assumptions upon which we base our expectations may change. For instance, we regularly monitor future demand and booking trends and adjust capacity, as needed. As such, our actual flown capacity may differ materially from currently published flight schedules or current estimations.

Please refer to the tables accompanying this release for reconciliations of the non-GAAP financial measures used to the most comparable GAAP financial measure and related disclosures.

-tables attached-

UNITED AIRLINES HOLDINGS, INC.
NON-GAAP FINANCIAL RECONCILIATION

UAL evaluates its financial performance utilizing various accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (GAAP) and non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (adjusted EBITDA), adjusted operating income (loss), adjusted operating margin, adjusted pre-tax income (loss), adjusted pre-tax margin, adjusted net income (loss), adjusted diluted earnings (loss) per share, CASM, excluding special charges, third-party business expenses, fuel, and profit sharing (CASM-ex), operating expenses excluding special charges, and adjusted capital expenditures, among others. The non-GAAP financial measures are provided as supplemental information to the financial measures presented in this press release that are calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP and are presented because management believes that they supplement or enhance management's, analysts' and investors' overall understanding of the company's underlying financial performance and trends and facilitate comparisons among current, past and future periods.

Because the non-GAAP financial measures are not calculated in accordance with GAAP, they should not be considered superior to and are not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the related GAAP financial measures presented in the press release and may not be the same as or comparable to similarly titled measures presented by other companies due to possible differences in method and in the items being adjusted. We encourage investors to review our financial statements and publicly-filed reports in their entirety and not to rely on any single financial measure.

The company does not provide a reconciliation of forward-looking measures on a forward-looking basis where the company believes such a reconciliation would imply a degree of precision and certainty that could be confusing to investors and is unable to reasonably predict certain items contained in the GAAP measures without unreasonable efforts. This is due to the inherent difficulty of forecasting the timing or amount of various items that have not yet occurred and are out of the company's control or cannot be reasonably predicted. For the same reasons, the company is unable to address the probable significance of the unavailable information. Forward-looking measures provided without the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures may vary materially from the corresponding GAAP financial measures. See "Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" above.

The information below provides an explanation of certain adjustments reflected in the non-GAAP financial measures and shows a reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures reported in this press release to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures. Within the financial tables presented, certain columns and rows may not add due to the use of rounded numbers. Percentages and earnings per share amounts presented are calculated from the underlying amounts.

UNITED AIRLINES HOLDINGS, INC.
NON-GAAP FINANCIAL RECONCILIATION (Continued)

UAL believes that adjusting for operating and nonoperating special charges (credits), and nonoperating unrealized (gains) losses on investments, net is useful to investors because these items are not indicative of UAL's ongoing performance. UAL believes that adjusting for interest expense related to finance leases of Embraer ERJ 145 aircraft is useful to investors because of the accelerated recognition of interest expense.

CASM is a common metric used in the airline industry to measure an airline's cost structure and efficiency. UAL reports CASM excluding special charges (credits), third-party business expenses, fuel and profit sharing. UAL believes that adjusting for special charges (credits) is useful to investors because special charges (credits) are not indicative of UAL's ongoing performance. UAL also believes that excluding third-party business expenses, such as maintenance, flight academy, ground handling and catering services for third parties, provides more meaningful disclosure because these expenses are not directly related to UAL's core business. UAL also believes that excluding fuel costs from certain measures is useful to investors because it provides an additional measure of management's performance excluding the effects of a significant cost item over which management has limited influence. UAL excludes profit sharing because it believes that this exclusion allows investors to better understand and analyze UAL's operating cost performance and provides a more meaningful comparison of our core operating costs to the airline industry.          

UNITED AIRLINES HOLDINGS, INC.
NON-GAAP FINANCIAL RECONCILIATION (Continued)

UAL believes that adjusting capital expenditures for assets acquired through the issuance of debt, finance leases and other financial liabilities is useful to investors in order to appropriately reflect the total amounts spent on capital expenditures. UAL also believes that adjusting net cash provided by (used in) operating activities for capital expenditures, adjusted capital expenditures, and aircraft operating lease additions is useful to allow investors to evaluate the company's ability to generate cash that is available for debt service or general corporate initiatives. 

NM Not Meaningful

CARES Act grant: During the three months ended March 31, 2021, the company received approximately $2.6 billion in funding pursuant to a Payroll Support Program agreement under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the "PSP2 Agreement"), which included a $753 million unsecured loan. The company recorded $1.8 billion as grant income and $47 million for the warrants issued to the U.S. Department of the Treasury as part of the PSP2 Agreement, within stockholders' equity, as an offset to the grant income.

Severance and benefit costs: During the three months ended March 31, 2021, the company recorded $417 million related to pay continuation and benefits-related costs provided to employees who chose to voluntary separate from the company. The company offered, based on employee group, age and completed years of service, pay continuation, health care coverage, and travel benefits. Approximately 4,500 employees elected to voluntary separate from the company.

During the three months ended March 31, 2019, the company recorded $2 million of severance and benefit costs primarily related to a voluntary early-out program for its technicians and related employees represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and $4 million of management severance.

Impairment of assets: During the three months ended March 31, 2019, the company recorded an $8 million fair value adjustment for aircraft purchased off lease.

(Gains) losses on sale of assets and other special charges: During the three months ended March 31, 2022, the company recorded net gains of $8 million primarily related to sale-leaseback transactions and the sale of aircraft.

During the three months ended March 31, 2021, the company recorded $16 million of net charges, driven by charges for the termination of the lease associated with three floors of its headquarters at the Willis Tower in Chicago and utility charges related to the February winter storms in Texas, partially offset by net gains, primarily on sale-leaseback transactions.

During the three months ended March 31, 2019, the company recorded $4 million of net charges, primarily related to the sale of aircraft.

Nonoperating debt extinguishment fees: During the three months ended March 31, 2022, the company recorded $7 million of charges related to the early redemption of $400 million of its unsecured debt.

Nonoperating special termination benefits:  During the three months ended March 31, 2021, as part of first quarter voluntary separation leave programs, the company recorded $46 million of special termination benefits in the form of additional subsidies for retiree medical costs for certain U.S. based front-line employees. The subsidies are in the form of additional subsidies for retiree medical costs as a one-time contribution into the employee's Retiree Health Account of $125,000 for full-time employees and $75,000 for part-time employees.

Nonoperating unrealized gains and losses on investments, net:  During the three months ended March 31, 2021, the company recorded losses of $22 million primarily for the decrease in the market value of its equity investments.

During the three months ended March 31, 2019, the company recorded gains of $17 million primarily for the change in market value of its equity investments.  

Interest expense related to finance leases of Embraer ERJ 145 aircraft:

During the third quarter of 2018, United entered into an agreement with the lessor of 54 Embraer ERJ 145 aircraft to purchase those aircraft in 2019. The provisions of the new lease agreement resulted in a change in accounting classification of these new leases from operating leases to finance leases up until the purchase date. The company recognized $21 million of additional interest expense in the three months ended March 31, 2019 as a result of this change.

Effective tax rate:

The company's effective tax rates for the three months ended March 31, 2022, 2021 and 2019 were 21.4%, 22.5% and 20.4%, respectively. The provisions for income taxes for the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2019 are based on the estimated annual effective tax rate which represents a blend of federal, state and foreign taxes and includes the impact of certain nondeductible items. We have historically calculated the provision for income taxes during interim reporting periods by applying an estimate of the annual effective tax rate for the full fiscal year to income or loss for the reporting period. We have used a discrete effective tax rate method to calculate taxes for the three months ended March 31, 2022. We determined that since small changes in estimated income would result in significant changes in the estimated annual effective tax rate, the historical method would not provide a reliable estimate for the three months ended March 31, 2022. 

SOURCE United Airlines