Declining Airline Losses Bode Well for Cheap Airplane Tickets

With US Airways and United Airlines reporting much narrower first quarter loses, travelers can expect to continue to see cheap airplane tickets and cheap vacation packages. U.S. Airways announced that its first quarter loss was only $45 million vs. a $103 million loss last year. United lost $92 million in the first quarter vs. $571 million in the first quarter of last year.
U.S. Airwayâ s loss was smaller than had been forecasted and its revenue was higher, increasing almost 8 percent, while Unitedâ s revenue rose 15 percent. US Airways is now predicting a second quarter profit, not counting one time write offs, which would be the carrierâ s first quarter profit since â 07.
United showed a $69 million operating profit in the quarter, not including interest expenses and other items. This was the companyâ s first operating profit in the first quarter since 2000.
US Airwaysâ corporate travel revenue rose 34 percent for the quarter.
Ancillary revenue, from add on charges, such as baggage fees, increased by $25 million to $118 million in the first quarter. The airlineâ s expenses rose a little more than 7 percent for the quarter largely because of a 41 percent increase in fuel charges.
US Airways now has 347 planes, with plans to reduce its fleet to 339 by the end of â 10 as it retires older Boeing 737s and 757s.
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