UAL Posts $291 Million Loss for February

About $92 million of it is reorganization expenses.
By Ross Snel ,

United Airlines' parent

UAL

(UALAQ)

remained in the red in February but managed to increase its cash hoard.

The company Thursday reported an operating loss for the month of $179 million and a net loss of $291 million, which included $92 million of mostly non-cash reorganization expenses.

Unit costs, which airlines measure in cost per available seat mile, or CASM, increased 3% year over year. Fuel was the culprit, with CASM excluding fuel falling 4% from a year ago. The recent surge in oil prices forced UAL to pay $57 million more for fuel in February than it did a year ago.

"Recent fare increases have been modestly encouraging, but the industry still has a long way to go in raising fares and reducing capacity to offset burgeoning fuel costs," said Jake Brace, UAL's CFO.

The executive was referring to three rounds of industry fare increases over the past month that were aimed at passing on rising fuel costs to customers.

The airline company, which has been under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection since December 2002, ended February with a cash balance of $2.2 billion, up $183 million during the month on strong bookings. The cash balance included $870 million in restricted cash.

Shares gained 3 cents, or 3.1%, to 99 cents.

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