United Airlines 2Q profit of $329m misses Wall Street target

NEW YORK, Jul 21 (AP): United Airlines said Wednesday that it earned $329 million in the second quarter as summer vacationers packed planes, but the results fell far short of Wall Street expectations due largely to soaring fuel prices.
United said it will keep flying at current levels instead of growing about 10% in the second half of the year, as it had originally planned.
CEO Scott Kirby blamed the pullback on understaffing at airports - he called out London's Heathrow, which has been a scene of frequent chaos this summer, and Newark in New Jersey - and the Federal Aviation Administration, which handles air-traffic control.
"We told Heathrow how many customers we were going to have ... they didn't staff for it" because they didn't believe United, Kirby told CNBC. "We are being forced to cancel flights because Heathrow can't accommodate the flights."
United recently announced that it will cut about 50 flights a day at the Newark airport near New York City, about 12% of its schedule there, after seeing weeks of high cancellations and delays.
Kirby said travelers may find fewer seats available for the holidays than they had expected. He said it could take until next summer before the aviation system is fully staffed and able to handle the number of people who want to travel.
An FAA has pushed back against airline officials blaming air traffic control for delays. "Data reported by the airlines shows that the vast majority of flight delays are unrelated to air traffic control," the agency said in a statement.
The quarter marked United's first profit without federal pandemic aid in the COVID-19 age. Kirby highlighted that in a prepared statement and also warned about risks over the next six to 18 months from problems in the aviation system that can cause delays and cancellations, the recent record high fuel prices, and "the increasing possibility of a global recession."