UA Q3 '14 Financials: $1.1bn profit, excluding special items
 

http://ir.unitedcontinentalholdings....cle&ID=1980686

Guess they really did hit the numbers they were aiming for finally.

[Moderator Edit: this thread replaces the Q3 '14 Guidance thread.]

I did my bit to help out by giving them all those TODs during the course of the year to buy up those nice seats which would otherwise have remained empty!

3... 2... 1...

These are beating the crap out of DL numbers ... Of course now DL will claim everything is "specials" so you need to keep backing out and fudging to reach the metric that makes them look better

Here are the yield figures for United (first) and Delta (2nd)

Domestic 7.6% / 4.7%
Atlantic 5.4% / 3.3%
Pacific 1.8% / (1.3%)
Latam (2.1%) / (3.2%)
Intl 2.8% / N/A

Mainline 5.1% / 3.0%
Regional 0.1% / (0.3%)

Total 4.1% / 1.9%

Now the yield guys will say...oh wait, this time we need to look at prasm because Delta increased capacity. But even there UA posted stronger results.

And in Asia, where UA increased capacity faster than Delta (which actually is retrenching there...and will more with the 747 retirements) yield grew faster than Delta.

Reality is the low hanging fruit is gone for Delta. They run a nice operation, but as a stock story that one is less clear cut than in 2012.

Guess the wider variety of 1,500 P fares to Europe helped UA :)

I flew 2 of those with UA, 1 with Delta.

I've just come here for the comments :D

That makes two of us.

And speaking of comments, let's keep them directed at the topic of UAs fiscal performance.

Safe Travels,

J.Edward
UA Forum Moderator

This is the point where DL will point to their "$1.6B profit" headline figure even though it excludes so many items it's close to meaningless when comparing across the industry

By common logic AA/US's results should be better than both UA and DL (fresh out of bankruptcy, integration/SOC pain not yet started, best FF program, stole all the HVF from UA etc etc etc). If not, the gravy train is already cancelled before it has reached the first stop.

As someone who frequently questions UA's business direction, I think its hard to see anything but very positive numbers here. Good quarter all around. I'm really surprised with the comparison against DL. Q3 is typically such a good quarter for airlines, and it seems like DL actually faltered.

If UA can be consistent over the next 3-4 quarters, this is probably the turning point that investors point to. I think UA still needs to prove this is more than just a lucky quarter, and continued success over time will do that.

Those are growth numbers.

In absolutes UA shows 16.61 cpm for Q3 and 16.42 YTD. Delta claims 17.16/17.25.

In absolute PRASM UA reported 14.25 v DL's 14.83.

DL did have more ASMs and RPMs than UA in Q3 but still trails YTD.

UA's CASM in Q3 dropped from 14.94 to 14.34 including special items. DL's jumped to 15.69 from 13.97. Excluding pretty much everything (which is the way the airlines do it to get to truly comparable numbers) UA shows 9.2 v 9.11 while DL is 8.04 from 7.96 YoY.

You recognize that United's earnings headline also leads with profit before special items, right?

United Announces Third-Quarter 2014 Profit

UAL Reports $1.1 Billion Third-Quarter 2014 Profit Excluding Special Items; $924 Million Profit Including Special Items

I expect, given the size of DL's write-down for 747s, that they had a discussion with the auditors before things went to print. It seems to me that a write-down of 747s can, indeed, be a non-recurring charge. If United manages to retire all 747s without a special charge we can return to the topic.

These are good earnings by UA. DL, AA, WN, and ALK have announced good (by some measures, record) earnings, too.

AA just announced theirs : $1.2B ex specials and $942m including

HA and B6, too. UA carriers did very well in Q3 '14.

Yes, but the difference is that UA's headline is GAAP post-tax net income, ex specials

DL's headline is Non-GAAP PRE-tax income, ex specials

UA goes from $1.1B to $924m true net income. AA is $1.2B to $942m. DL, on the other hand, goes from headline figure of $1.6B waaaaay down to slighly over $300m since apparently every one of their mistakes (like fleet strategy and fuel hedging screw ups) is a "special"

MTM accounting for fuel hedges is apparently a special for everyone. So is significant fleet changes. UA has taken similar charges in the past and likely will again in the future.

Does this include the sale of the 757's? 8 million per x 40?