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Mixed Bag for United<\/p>\n
It was a good news\/bad news thing for United as the carrier beat Wall Street expectations during Q1,<\/a> but then revised its guidance downward for the rest of the year. The airline adjusted earnings down between $1 and $2 per share for Q2, and its year-end guidance to $7-$11 profit per share, down from the $12-$14 previously forecasted thanks to high fuel prices.<\/p>\n For Q1, United earned $14.6 billion in gross revenue, beating the expected figure of $14.4 billion. This reflected a 10% leap from \u201924 when it earned $13.2 billion in Q1. But profit is where it took the biggest step forward, besting \u201925 by 80%, as it finished the quarter just shy of $700 million on the upside. Domestic flights saw an 8% bump in unit revenue from last year, up to $7.9 billion.<\/p>\n United operated at a load factor of 81.6%, up 2.4% from 2025. It carried the most passengers it ever has in a first quarter, and some of them didn\u2019t have to connect through Newark. It ended Q1 with $7.8 billion of cash and cash equivalents on-hand and it is reportedly looking to grow its real estate portfolio as CEO Scott Kirby was seen bookmarking several Zillow pages for new homes for his executive team in the Fort Worth area.<\/p>\n American\u2019s Q1 Also Hit by the Fuel Bug<\/p>\n American set a company record for Q1 revenue<\/a> at $13.9 billion but came up $382 million in the red as fuel-related costs and general operational struggles took hold to start the year. CEO Robert Isom said he expects another gross revenue record in Q2 as well, which makes sense as fares and fees are only headed in one direction. The $382 million loss is an improvement from Q1 last year where it lost $473 million.<\/p>\n AA\u2019s stock lost $0.40, which is better than the $0.47 expected, and it did lower its total debt to $34.7 billion, the lowest it\u2019s been in a decade. For Q2 it expects its stock to fall somewhere between up $0.20 and down $0.20 as it navigates what it projects as a $4 billion fuel bill bigger than last year. When asked to comment on its future stock price, AA officials directed all questions to United\u2019s investor relations team. \u201cIt\u2019ll be their problem soon enough,\u201d one person remarked to Cranky on the condition that we not release his or her name, only that it rhymed with \u201cSchmisom.\u201d<\/p>\n The airline has just short of $11 billion in liquidity, much of which is expected to be put into 529 savings accounts in the names of the children of employees of the Chicago Department of Aviation.<\/p>\n Will Spirit be Saved by the Federal Government?<\/p>\n With Spirit staring down the barrel of bankruptcy and liquidation, it is looking into the time-honored tradition of failing businesses in this country\u2026 to seek a bailout<\/a> from American taxpayers to keep the doors open. The president was non-committal on what the government would do, but in a bizarre rant worthy of your senile grandparents, he did lament the fact that President Obama prevented a merger with PEOPLExpress. (We aren\u2019t making this up<\/a>, but he certainly was.)<\/p>\n A $500 million bailout seems to be on the table which would help it avoid becoming the first major airline to shut down in the United States since, what, Pan Am in 1991? (This assumes you don\u2019t count aha!) Federal government bailouts of airlines have typically been done on an industry-wide basis, with this potentially being a precedent-breaking bailout. Spirit has been mum on its future plans, saying its day-to-day operations are unaffected as this drama plays out in South Florida, Washington, D.C., and beyond.<\/p>\n An attorney for Spirit did confirm in bankruptcy court Thursday that a federal government lifeline is being discussed. Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick is reportedly a major advocate for the deal within the government which makes sense when looking at his personal balance sheet and seeing that he his heavily leveraged with yellow paint futures. A new court hearing is set for Thursday, April 30 to consider a potential offer.<\/p>\n Members of the banking industry were asked for their opinion on the bailout and had no comment.<\/p>\n Southwest Managed a Profitable Quarter<\/p>\n Despite doom and gloom for most airlines, Southwest managed to escape the barrage<\/a> of red ink in Q1, which probably fuels the idea in some corners that the New Southwest is working as a concept.<\/p>\n The Dallas-based carrier earned a $227 million profit on record Q1 passenger revenue of\u00a0US$6.6 billion. Southwest saw RASM increase 11.2% on a 1.5% jump in capacity. The airline says about 60% of customers purchased some sort of upgrade from its base product, a jump from 20% a year ago. Southwest also set record revenue in its black market sale of customer tears, as it took all the whining customers did to check-in and gate agents, bottled them up, and sold that for a tidy profit.<\/p>\n It paid $2.75 at the pump averaged for the quarter, higher than the $2.40 forecasted. But it believes Q2 fuel prices could be as high as $4.15 per gallon. To make up for that increase, the airline will increase the price of its new extra legroom seating options to $599 per segment.<\/p>\n For Q2, Southwest projects adjusted earnings per share of $0.35-$0.65, assuming fuel prices between\u00a0US$4.10 and US$4.15. The airline elected not to update its full-year earnings target of $4, pointing its finger out towards the world, shrugging its shoulders and saying \u201cwho really knows what\u2019s next?\u201d<\/p>\n Alaska and Hawaiian\u2019s Busy Week<\/p>\n A lot of news came out of Seattle and Honolulu this week, starting with the two airlines converging their booking systems<\/a> to a shared Sabre platform. Customers can now purchase flights and manage bookings on the new combined app, while the two are bringing their check-in process together at most major mainland airports. Hawaiian\u2019s HA code is now a thing of the past, with all flights operating under Alaska\u2019s AS code and Hawaiian flights being denoted as Hawaiian Airlines operated by Alaska.<\/p>\n Hawaiian also got the codeword to enter oneworld\u2019s clubhouse this week as the carrier was formally welcomed<\/a> into the alliance, bumping Oman Air out of the \u201cnew guy\u201d chair. Hawaiian brought ukuleles and POG juice to its first formal meeting of the alliance and promised to host next month\u2019s meeting at the end of the Road to Hana on Maui.<\/p>\n Lastly, Alaska posted its Q1 earnings<\/a> this week as well. The headline was that it led the industry in on-time performance, which, while an admirable goal, is never what you want headlining your earnings report. Alaska lost $193 million \u2014 or $1.69 per share \u2014 in the quarter, on $3.3 billion in gross revenue. Alaska declined to give future guidance, citing the volatility with fuel as the reason, but did say it expects capacity to be up 1% in Q2 compared to last year.<\/p>\n Air Canada<\/a> took delivery of its first A321XLR today.<\/p>\n American<\/a> is opening a new Admirals Club in Nashville.<\/p>\n Contour<\/a> is adding Merced, CA. to its route map making Central Valley fans very happy.<\/p>\n El Al<\/a> is headed to Argentina.<\/p>\n Ethiopian<\/a> is converting six B787 options into firm orders.<\/p>\n Etihad<\/a> will increase its service to Charlotte from 4x weekly to 1x daily this summer.<\/p>\n Fiji Airways<\/a> is capping seats.<\/p>\n flydubai<\/a> will begin flying to Bangkok on July 1.<\/p>\n Frontier Airlines<\/a> avoided a $162k fine.<\/p>\n IndiGo<\/a> signed an 8-year agreement with Delta TechOps to maintain 20 engines.<\/p>\n ITA<\/a> is flying to Santo Domingo now.<\/p>\n JetBlue<\/a> won\u2019t file for bankruptcy this year, says the person whose job depends on it not filing for bankruptcy.<\/p>\n Philippine Airlines<\/a> is adding nine airplanes this year.<\/p>\n Riyadh Air<\/a> is adding Jeddah, Madrid, and Manchester.<\/p>\n Ryanair<\/a> is closing its Berlin base.<\/p>\n Southwest<\/a> is adding four for the holidays: San Francisco to Kansas City, Cleveland to Dallas, Jacksonville to Las Vegas, and San Diego to Fort Lauderdale.<\/p>\n TAROM<\/a> is restructuring. Maybe.<\/p>\n United<\/a> is sticking to its policy of charging for non-Starlink Wi-Fi.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/cwr2-1.jpg\")
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