OREANDA-NEWS. United Airlines (UAL) today reported third-quarter 2014 net income of USD 1.1 billion, or USD 2.75 per diluted share, excluding USD 151 million of special items, its highest-ever quarterly profit and an increase of 99 percent year-over-year. Including special items, UAL reported third-quarter 2014 net income of USD 924 million, or USD 2.37 per diluted share.

* United's consolidated passenger revenue per available seat mile (PRASM) increased 3.9 percent in the third quarter of 2014 compared to the third quarter of 2013.
* Third-quarter 2014 consolidated unit costs (CASM), excluding special charges, third-party business expenses, fuel and profit sharing, increased 1.0 percent year-over-year on a consolidated capacity increase of 0.5 percent. Third-quarter 2014 CASM, including those items, decreased 4.0 percent year-over-year.
* UAL ended the third quarter with USD 6.9 billion in unrestricted liquidity.
* The company earned a 12.3 percent return on invested capital for the 12 months ended Sept. 30, 2014.
* United returned USD 220 million to shareholders as part of its previously announced USD 1 billion share buyback program.

For the third quarter of 2014, total revenue was USD 10.6 billion, an increase of 3.3 percent year-over-year. Third-quarter consolidated passenger revenue increased 4.4 percent to USD 9.3 billion, compared to the same period in 2013.

Ancillary revenue per passenger in the third quarter increased 10.9 percent year-over-year to more than USD 22 per passenger. Third-quarter cargo revenue grew 19.1 percent to USD 237 million driven by higher volumes year-over-year, as cargo traffic returned following lower bookings during the implementation of the company's new cargo systems in the third quarter of 2013. Other revenue decreased 8.9 percent year-over-year to USD 1.0 billion mostly due to the company choosing to discontinue an agreement to sell fuel to a third party. The corresponding expense decline appears in third-party business expense.

Consolidated revenue passenger miles increased 0.4 percent and consolidated available seat miles increased 0.5 percent year-over-year for the third quarter, resulting in a third-quarter consolidated load factor of 85.8 percent.

Third-quarter 2014 consolidated PRASM increased 3.9 percent and consolidated yield increased 4.1 percent compared to the third quarter of 2013.

Third-quarter consolidated CASM, excluding special charges, third-party business expense, fuel and profit sharing, increased 1.0 percent compared to the third quarter of 2013.  Third-quarter consolidated CASM including those items decreased 4.0 percent.

Third-quarter total operating expenses, excluding special charges, decreased USD 180 million, or 1.9 percent, year-over-year. Including special charges, total operating expenses decreased USD 348 million, or 3.6 percent, in the third quarter versus the same period in 2013. Third-party business expense was USD 61 million in the third quarter of 2014.