Dallas, Texas 05/01/2014 (FINANCIALSTRENDS) – United Continental Holdings Inc (NYSE:UAL) the US airline has been only one of the two airlines which have been unsuccessful on the earnings report card. Giving company to UAL was JetBlue which too reported lack of profitability. However, other airliners such as ALK, ALGT, AAL, HA, LUV and SAVE have had a successful run with profit gains to the tune of $1billion.
United Continental Holdings Inc (NYSE:UAL) along with Jet Blue has failed to move forward on the changing scenes of the airline sector. The business has seen a demand and has also indicated increase in the pricing trends with fares as well as bags throwing in higher profits for this sector.
Additionally airliners in the US reported first quarter profits to the tune of $401 million across the industry. This is definitely a more positive scenario for the industry, which late into last year was seen struggling across most of the local regions. The performance over the entire last year, for the US airline industry was dismal resulting in more than $553 million in losses over the 2013 fiscal.
UAL reports loss
UAL reported revenue earnings for the first quarter, indicating EPS of -$1.33 and beating consensus by $0.03. The key factor reported was a drop in passenger traffic, to the tune of 0.3%, along with revenues dropping by over 2%.
Industry insiders believe that the main drawback for the company was the higher exposure it had to Asia in the first quarter. They continue to believe that this loss could also go up significantly in the next quarter, as long as AUL continues to deal with Asian sector flyers.
Commentaries by analysts
The results of the first quarter have been so disappointing for UAL that, Wolfe Research suggests the time may not be too far before the carrier may face a “significant structural disadvantage,” in comparison to its peers and competition.