12/02/12, 12:06:49 EST

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United, JetBlue continue string of good airline results

usatoday.com

U.S. airlines continued to report strong results with Tuesday's better-than-expected earnings from United parent UAL and JetBlue Airways.

UAL (UAUA) said its third-quarter profit surged nearly 76%, thanks largely to pared-down costs, reduced capacity and a boost in passenger revenue at United.

It was the company's most profitable quarter in seven years, beating a record set during the previous quarter.

The parent of the nation's No. 2 carrier said it earned $334 million, or $2.21 a share, for the July-through-September quarter. That's up from $190 million, or $1.30 a share, during the same period last year.

Excluding special items, the company earned $295 million, or $1.96 per share, easily beating Wall Street forecasts.

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Meanwhile, revenue for the company climbed 6.8% to $5.53 billion.

On average, analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial forecast earnings of $1.88 a share on revenue of $5.36 billion.

"We delivered excellent results this quarter driven by fundamental improvements across our core business," Chairman and Chief Executive Glenn Tilton said in a statement.

JetBlue (JBLU) generated its first third-quarter profit in two years as capacity and occupancy grew.

The low-cost carrier said its profit for the three months ended Sept. 30 rose to $23 million, or 12 cents a share. One year ago, JetBlue lost $500,000, breaking even on a per-share basis.

Revenue for the quarter increased to $765 million, up from $628 million a year earlier. Plane occupancy, grew 1.6 percentage points over the year-earlier period, while capacity jumped 10.9%.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had expected earnings of 7 cents a share on revenue of $767.4 million, on average.

JetBlue also said it planned to drop service to Columbus, Ohio, and Nashville, effective Jan. 6.

 Printable Version  | published Oct 23, 2007