UAL Q1 2024 Earnings

Call Details

• Call Title: United Airlines Holdings, Inc. Q1 2024 Earnings Call
• Date: April 18, 2024 at 2:30 AM UTC
• Management Team:
  • Kristina Edwards (Managing Director of Investor Relations)
  • Scott Kirby (Chief Executive Officer)
  • Brett Hart (President)
  • Andrew Nocella (Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer)
  • Mike Leskinen (Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer)

Call Summary

Financial Performance

• United produced a pre-tax loss of $79M in Q1 2024, which was a $187M improvement versus Q1 2023.
• Loss per share was $0.15 for the quarter, which management stated was better than guidance and ahead of consensus.
• The Boeing MAX 9 grounding negatively impacted earnings by more than $200M and prevented a profitable quarter.
• United generated $1.5B in free cash flow in Q1 2024 and reported adjusted net debt to EBITDA of 2.7x.
• Consolidated TRASM was up 0.6% year-over-year and PRASM was up 1% year-over-year in Q1 2024.
• Domestic PRASM increased 6.1% year-over-year, while international PRASM was down 4.2% year-over-year.
• CASM-ex was up 4.7% year-over-year on 9.1% capacity growth, and continued delivery delays are expected to pressure CASM-ex through 2024.
• MileagePlus revenue was up 15% year-over-year and cargo revenue decreased 1.8% year-over-year.

Guidance

• Full year 2024 EPS guidance remains $9 to $11 per share.
• Second quarter 2024 EPS guidance is $3.75 to $4.25 per share.
• Full year 2024 total capital expenditures are now expected to be approximately $6.5B, down from $9B at the start of the year.
• Company expects to take delivery of 61 narrow-body and 5 wide-body aircraft in 2024 versus contractual narrow-body deliveries of 183 at year end and an earlier plan for 101.
• Adjusted capital expenditures for 2025 through 2027 are expected to be in the $7B to $9B range per year.
• Company expects CASM-ex pressure of almost one point in 2024 due to hired capacity that was not delivered and expects CASM-ex in Q2 to be similar year-over-year to Q1.
• Company targets positive and growing free cash flow over the next three years and plans to update long-term earnings targets later in the year.