United Continental Holdings said it lost $325 million in the fourth quarter because of expenses from combining United and Continental airlines.
Excluding those costs, the world's biggest airline earned $160 million, or 44 cents per share, rising above the expectations of analysts, on the back of increased fares. Revenue per mile one mile rose 11.5%. Across the company revenue rose 15% to $8.4 billion.
United Continental paid $2.45 billion for fuel in the last three months of 2010, up 22% from the same period a year earlier and up 10% on Q4. Excluding fuel costs rose 1% during Q4.
The airline posted $482 million in merger expenses for the quarter.
United Continental now holds $8.7 billion in cash after paying down $148 million in debt earlier this month. United Continental earned $854 million for the full year if results from both companies are included. On that basis, revenue rose almost 19% to $34 billion.