US Airways, UAL/Continental Report Different Results For 4th Quarter

US Airways Group, Inc. reported its fourth quarter and 2010 financial results on Wednesday. The company reported a 2010 net profit of $447 million, or $2.34 per diluted share, which excludes special items totaling a net credit of $55 million. This is the second highest profit in the Company’s history and represents a $946 million improvement as compared to the 2009 net loss excluding special items of $499 million, or ($3.75) per share.

“2010 was a great year for US Airways, including the second highest profit (excluding special items) in our history and an earnings improvement of nearly $1 billion versus 2009," said S Airways Group, Inc. Chairman and CEO Doug Parker. We also ended the year on a strong note with our first profitable fourth quarter since 2006.

“These results are due to our 31,000 team members, who did an excellent job of taking care of our customers throughout 2010. As reported by the Department of Transportation (DOT) through November 2010, US Airways ranked number one among the five largest network carriers in baggage handling and number two in on-time performance. Our customer satisfaction also outperformed the competition as evidenced by our 2010 complaint ratio, which was ten percent better than the average of our peers."

But the news was not so good over at United Continental Holdings, where a $325 million net loss on a GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) basis for the quarter was reported.  The company said that the expenses of merging the two airlines ate into its profits. But the company reported a profit for the year overall, with more people paying to fly. "While making significant progress integrating United and Continental, we never lost focus on running a good operation," said Jeff Smisek, UAL's president and chief executive officer.  We made a solid profit for the year, and we look forward to distributing $224 million in profit sharing to our co-workers on Valentine's Day."

Since closing the merger on Oct. 1, 2010, United and Continental continued to make significant progress integrating the two carriers.  The company has already repainted more than 200 aircraft in the new United livery, selected key technology platforms and begun the process of integrating information technology systems, and continued to co-locate check-in and ticket counter facilities to streamline operations that began when Continental joined Star Alliance in 2009.

FMI: www.usairways.com, www.unitedcontinentalholdings.com