UAL Corporation, the holding company whose primary subsidiary is United Airlines, reported results for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2008, and the news wasn’t good for jobs in Chicago, where the company is headquartered.
UAL:
- Reported a fourth quarter pre-tax loss of $547 million excluding non-cash, net mark-to-market hedge losses and certain accounting charges outlined in note 5 of the attached statement of consolidated operations. Including these items the company reported a pre-tax loss of $1.3 billion.
- Reported basic and diluted loss per share for the fourth quarter of $4.22 excluding non-cash, net mark-to-market hedge losses and certain accounting charges. Including these items the company’s loss per share was $9.91.
- Reported solid revenue performance with a 4.7 percent increase year-over-year in fourth quarter consolidated passenger unit revenue per available seat mile (PRASM), excluding Mileage Plus accounting impacts. Including these impacts, consolidated PRASM increased 2.1 percent year-over-year.
- Held its mainline non-fuel unit costs per available seat mile (CASM) for the quarter, excluding certain accounting charges, to an increase of only 1.6 percent year-over-year, despite reducing mainline capacity by 11.7 percent year-over-year. Mainline CASM including fuel and certain accounting charges for the quarter was up 20.8 percent versus the fourth quarter of 2007, primarily due to the impact of hedge losses.
- Raised nearly $390 million in cash in the fourth quarter through various activities including aircraft financings, asset sales and equity issuances.
- Recorded its best fourth quarter on-time performance since 2004.
“Last year was by any measure a challenging year – defined by unprecedented volatility and unpredictability, but for United it was also characterized by steady and durable improvements,” said Glenn Tilton, United chairman, president and CEO. “Our management team made timely decisions that resulted in fundamental improvements across our business, which will hold us in good stead in 2009.”
United is taking additional steps in 2009 to reduce overhead costs. The company will further reduce the number of salaried and management employees by approximately 1,000 positions by the end of 2009. This is in addition to the 1,500 positions the company announced in the second quarter, and when completed, will bring the total reduction in its salaried and management staff to approximately 2,500, or more nearly 30 percent, since the beginning of 2008.
“Our industry continues to be challenged by a volatile fuel and revenue environment, and against that backdrop, we are delivering strong cost results even as we reduce capacity and improve quality,” said John Tague, executive vice president and chief operating officer. “Our operational performance continues to improve, benefiting from reduced capacity, new runways and, most importantly, the work of our people, who are focused on running a good airline for our customers and our investors.”
Tags: Chicago Jobs