United Execs on Corporate Travel, China and Boeing

16.10.2024 - 22:25 / skift.com / Scott Kirby / United Airlines / Andrew Nocella / Meghna Maharishi / Kelly Ortberg

It’s been a good year for United Airlines. 

The carrier saw one of its busiest summers and made headlines for its offbeat routes expansion and new Starlink partnership. 

For the third-quarter, United reported revenues of $14.8 billion and is now implementing a $1.5 billion share buyback program, its first since the pandemic. 

While the airline is still in thorny negotiations with its flight attendants over a new contract and came under scrutiny for a slate of safety incidents, it expects to end the year on a strong note. 

Here are four takeaways from United’s third-quarter earnings:

Corporate revenues for United were up 13% compared to last year. Chief commercial officer Andrew Nocella said the carrier also saw more growth in its coastal hubs as the tech and finance industries have increased their business travel. 

Other sectors like energy have experienced slower growth, Nocella said. 

“All verticals are growing and corporate traffic looks good, but the coastal hubs are much stronger than the interior hubs at this point,” he said. 

Business travel has taken longer to bounce back post-pandemic. Other carriers such as Delta Air Lines and Alaska Airlines have also enjoyed a spike in business travel this year, partly fueled by the tech industry. 

The United executive said he also expected more corporate growth into the first quarter of 2025. 

“We see corporate traffic accelerating, that’s United’s bread and butter,” he said. 

Since the pandemic, Nocella said United saw some of its busiest days for business travel during the third quarter. 

“We’ve seen eight of the top 10 biggest post-pandemic corporate revenue booking days since the start of September, including the biggest day in United’s history,” Nocella said. 

United recently brought back its Los Angeles-Shanghai route, but it’s not expecting to grow much of its China presence. 

“China is just completely different for United today than it was pre-pandemic,” Nocella said. 

Western carriers have been scaling back their presence in China due to flight restrictions from the Chinese government and the inability to fly over Russian airspace since the start of the Russia-Ukraine War. 

Virgin Atlantic scrapped its London-Shanghai flights in July, citing “significant complexities and challenges.” British Airways is pausing flights to Beijing until October 25. Qantas also pulled out of Shanghai due to soft demand. Lufthansa lowered its financial outlook for 2024 partly because of weaknesses in the Chinese market. 

“It’s just a completely different world,” Nocella said.

As Boeing grapples with an ongoing machinist strike and issues with its aircraft programs, United CEO Scott Kirby said he still had faith in the plane maker. 

“I think [Boeing CEO] Kelly Ortberg