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CHICAGO (Reuters) -United Airlines Holdings on Tuesday forecast at least a four-fold jump in full-year profit for this year and reported fourth-quarter earnings that topped Wall Street estimates on robust travel demand.
The Chicago-based carrier sees an adjusted profit of $10 to $12 per share for 2023, up from $2.52 per share last year. That is well above analysts’ estimates of $6.54 a share, according to a Refinitiv survey.
U.S. carriers are enjoying the strongest travel demand since the start of the COVID pandemic, boosted by reopening of closed borders, a strong U.S. dollar and rising corporate travel.
While a worsening economic outlook has sparked concerns about consumer spending, airlines say travel demand remains strong and exceeds the pace of flight capacity growth, keeping ticket prices high.
United posted a fourth-quarter profit of $2.46 per share exceeded analysts’ expectations for $2.10, according to Refinitiv data.
Rival Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last week said the industry is expected to see tens of billions of dollars of incremental demand in the next few years as the relationship between passenger revenue and global gross domestic product returns to pre-pandemic trend.
Before the pandemic, passenger revenue accounted for 1% of the global GDP.
United said it expects to report a profit of 50 cents to $1 per share for the first quarter. Analysts are estimating a profit of 25 cents a share for the quarter.
