United Airlines (UAL) Q1 2025 Earnings
How Did UAL Stock React to Q1 2025 Earnings?
S&P 500 over the same 30 days: +13.16%.
Did UAL Beat Earnings? Q1 2025 Results
Yes. United Airlines reported Q1 2025 earnings of $0.91 a share on Apr 15, 2025, beating the $0.74 consensus estimate by 23.8%. Revenue was $13.2B against a $13.2B estimate.
United Airlines opened 2025 with its strongest first-quarter performance in five years, posting earnings per share of $0.91 against a consensus estimate of $0.74, a beat of 23.79%, while revenue climbed 5.4% year-over-year to a record $13.21 billion, edging past the $13.18 billion estimate. The headline results were driven by broad-based demand strength, with premium cabin revenue up 9.2%, business travel up 7.4%, and a 12.2% decline in average fuel cost per gallon to $2.53 providing meaningful margin relief; the airline also swung to a GAAP net income of $387.00 million from a net loss of $124.00 million in Q1 2024. Yet the results arrived against an unsettled industry backdrop, with rivals cutting capacity and pulling full-year guidance amid tariff-driven demand uncertainty. United itself acknowledged the fog, issuing bimodal 2025 guidance of $11.50 to $13.50 per share in a stable economy and $7.00 to $9.00 in a recession, while proactively trimming domestic capacity by four percentage points beginning in the third quarter.
- Premium cabin revenue rose 9.2% year-over-year
- Business revenue up 7.4% year-over-year
- Basic Economy revenue up 7.6% year-over-year
- Atlantic RASM up 4.7% and Pacific RASM up 8.5% year-over-year
- Cargo revenue up 9.7% and loyalty revenue up 9.4% year-over-year
- Average fuel price per gallon declined 12.2% to $2.53
- CASM down 3.4% year-over-year
- $108 million net gains from aircraft sale-leaseback transactions (special credits)
- Capacity up 4.9% year-over-year with record ASMs
- Best on-time departure and arrival rate for a first quarter since 2021
“Our strategy coming out of the COVID pandemic was simple: Build the best airline in the world to attract brand-loyal customers. The people of United Airlines have executed and built that airline.”
United Airlines CEO, on the earnings call
What Was United Airlines's Outlook in Q1 2025?
United provided bimodal full-year 2025 guidance reflecting macroeconomic uncertainty. Under a stable economy scenario with current demand trends continuing, the company expects adjusted diluted EPS of $11.50 to $13.50. In a recessionary scenario (modeling an incremental 5-point reduction in total operating revenue from Q2–Q4 2025), adjusted diluted EPS is expected at $7.00 to $9.00. For Q2 2025, adjusted diluted EPS guidance is $3.25 to $4.25. Full-year adjusted total capital expenditures are expected at less than $6.5 billion under both scenarios. The company is removing 4 percentage points of scheduled domestic capacity starting in Q3 2025, reducing off-peak flying on lower demand days, and retiring 21 aircraft earlier than planned. Forward bookings in the two weeks prior to the earnings report remained stable, with premium cabins up 17% and international up 5% year-over-year. Q2 2025 profit sharing accrual is expected between $150 million and $205 million.
UAL YoY Financials
| Metric | Q1 2025 | Q1 2024 | Year over year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $13.2B | $12.5B | +5.4% |
| Operating Income | $607.0M | $99.0M | +513.1% |
| Net Income | $387.0M | $75.6M | +412.1% |
UAL Revenue by Segment
UAL Revenue by Geography
Figures from SEC filings and company reports. Not investment advice.