United Airlines gained ground in key markets among “frequent business road warrior travelers,” according to Andrew Nocella, chief commercial officer, speaking on a second quarter earnings call. He said the increase was due to the carrier’s no-change fee policy, its diverse set of products, its global network and the MileagePlus loyalty program.
Revenue from these road warriors, said Nocella, was up 11% in the quarter, while total passenger revenue was up 5%. Revenue from premium seating was up 8.5%, while premium capacity was up 9.1%. Demand for premium capacity, including Economy Plus, was strong, said Nocella, and was outperforming non-premium seats.
Asked by an analyst whether United had been affected by the back-and-forth in American Airlines’ changes to its distribution and corporate sales processes, Nocella said, “We don’t believe there was a sudden material or a significant windfall to United when American attempted to disintermediate travel agencies and force companies to book direct, so I don’t think there will be a windfall as American flip-flops again to this side.”
Nocella added that United has looked to maintain long-term partnerships with agencies and corporations. “What we did during this time period is we made sure that we put in long-term arrangements to gain long-term market share and make the corporations and the travel agencies more sticky to United,” he said. “We’ll see if that actually occurs.”
United reported second quarter passenger revenue of nearly $13.7 billion, up 5% year over year. Total revenue for the quarter was nearly $15 billion, up from $14.2 billion a year prior. Net income was more than $1.3 billion, up 23% from the second quarter of 2023.
