United Continental Holdings has posted a fourth-quarter loss four months into the merger of United Airlines and Continental Airlines. However the newly merger airlines saw strong revenue gains on international routes and in its first- and business- class cabins.
UAL reported fourth-quarter 2010 net income of $160 million or $0.44 diluted earnings per share excluding $485 million of special items consisting primarily of merger-related costs and other special charges, an improvement of $347 million compared to the pro forma results year-over-year. UAL reported pro forma full-year 2010 net income of $1.6 billion excluding $765 million of special items, resulting in a net margin of 4.8 percent.
UAL consolidated passenger revenue increased 15.8% in the fourth quarter of 2010 compared to the pro forma results for the same period in 2009. While consolidated passenger revenue per available seat mile (PRASM) for the quarter rose by 11.5% compared to last year.
UAL ended the year with $8.7 billion in unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments.
Employees of the combined company earned $224 million in profit sharing for full-year 2010.
“Thanks to the hard work of my co-workers, we made a fourth-quarter profit, excluding special items, in a typically weak quarter,” said Jeff Smisek, UAL’s president and chief executive officer. “While making significant progress integrating United and Continental, we never lost focus on running a good operation. We made a solid profit for the year, and we look forward to distributing $224 million in profit sharing to our co-workers on Valentine’s Day.”