ATP Grads at Airlines

US Major Airlines Report Over $1 billion in 3Q Profit

Published Nov 23, 2011 on Pilot Jobs

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The spike in jet fuel prices did not prevent the country's seven largest airline companies from earning $1.09 billion in combined net income for the three months ended Sept. 30, paving the way for expansion and increasing the need for new pilots. That was an impressive result given a 14.9% year-over-year rise in costs to $34 billion driven mainly by higher fuel prices. Revenue grew 9.7% to $36.5 billion and operating profit was $2.49 billion, down 29.5%. All seven airlines were profitable on an operating basis and five of the seven earned a net profit. It's not hard to see why the carriers stayed in the black: Capacity and non-fuel costs barely grew year-over-year and load factors remained extremely high. The seven carriers' collective third-quarter traffic rose by 1% to 203.41 billion Revenue Passenger Miles, producing a load factor of 85.1%. United Continental Holdings, parent company of merger partners United Airlines (UA) and Continental Airlines (CO), posted a best-among-US majors third-quarter net profit of $653 million.

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