United Airlines Reaches 2020 Adjusted Earnings Per Share Target One Year Ahead Of Schedule

CHICAGO, Jan. 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- United Airlines (UAL) today announced it reached its 2020 goal -- first announced in January 2018 -- to achieve adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) target² of $11 to $13 a full year ahead of schedule. The company also achieved full year pre-tax margin growth of 2.6 points, which is expected to outpace its largest competitors for 2019.

• Reported fourth quarter net income of $641 million, diluted EPS of $2.53, up 50% versus the fourth quarter of 2018, pre-tax earnings of $844 million and pre-tax margin of 7.8 percent, expanding pre-tax margin 2.5 points versus the fourth quarter of 2018.
• Reported fourth quarter adjusted net income of $676 million, adjusted diluted EPS of $2.67, up 11% versus the fourth quarter of 2018, adjusted pre-tax earnings of $889 million and adjusted pre-tax margin of 8.2 percent, expanding adjusted pre-tax margin 0.5 points versus the fourth quarter of 2018.¹
• Reported full year net income of $3.0 billion, diluted EPS of $11.58, up 51% versus full year 2018, pre-tax earnings of $3.9 billion and pre-tax margin of 9.0 percent, expanding pre-tax margin 2.6 points versus full year 2018.
• Reported full year adjusted net income of $3.1 billion, adjusted diluted EPS of $12.05, up 32% versus full year 2018, adjusted pre-tax earnings of $4.1 billion and adjusted pre-tax margin of 9.4 percent, expanding adjusted pre-tax margin 1.7 points versus full year 2018.¹
• Consolidated fourth quarter passenger revenue per available seat mile (PRASM) increased 0.8 percent year-over-year.
• Consolidated fourth quarter unit cost per available seat mile (CASM) decreased 1.3 percent year-over-year and consolidated full year unit cost per available seat mile (CASM) decreased 1.2 percent year-over-year.
• Consolidated fourth quarter CASM, excluding special charges, third party business expenses, fuel and profit sharing, increased 2.7 percent year-over-year. Consolidated full year CASM, excluding special charges, third-party business expenses, fuel and profit sharing, increased 1.0 percent year-over-year.
• Repurchased $216 million of its common shares in the fourth quarter of 2019, at an average purchase price of $88.95 per share, bringing share repurchases for full year 2019 to $1.6 billion.

"2019 was a great year for our United team -- highlighted by achieving our $11 to $13 adjusted EPS target a full year ahead of schedule," said Oscar Munoz, CEO of United Airlines. "With a four-quarter streak of expanding profit margins, when all the results are in we expect our full year 2019 pre-tax margin growth to be the highest amongst our largest competitors. When I look at United's fundamental strength, I could not be prouder of what we've accomplished in such a short time. This is the New United we set out to build more than four years ago. As we embark on a new year and decade, I believe the outlook for United's future has never been brighter."

For more information on UAL's first quarter and full year 2020 guidance, please visit ir.united.com for the company's investor update.

2019 Highlights

Operations and Employees

• Flew most revenue passengers in company history.
• Set new company record for most mainline departures with nearly 800,000 departures.
• Number one in on-time departures at all hubs with direct competitors -- Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles.
• Hosted Backstage 2019, which brought all 25,000 flight attendants to Chicago for an event which was designed to underscore the important role flight attendants play in delivering great service.
• Profit sharing for 2019 was on average 45 percent higher per participating employee year-over-year.
• Launched Aviate, a new pilot recruiting and development program and career website to establish a more structured career path to becoming a United pilot.
• Hired nearly 9,000 aviation professionals in well paying careers with great benefits in 2019.

Customer Experience

• Introduced ConnectionSaver, a new tool dedicated to improving the experience for customers connecting from one United flight to the next, saving nearly 100,000 connections to be made in 2019.
• Became the first U.S. airline to offer non-binary gender options throughout all booking channels in addition to providing the option to select the title "Mx." during booking.
• Announced MileagePlus award miles never expire, giving members a lifetime to use miles on flights, experiences, hotels and more.
• Announced free live DIRECTV on 211 Boeing 737 United aircraft equipped with seat back TV, providing more than 100 channels of live television.
• Introduced a re-imagined mobile app to customers featuring a more dynamic experience that updates customers at each step of their travel journey.
• Customers are now provided three inflight snack options on domestic flights regardless of departure time, including the Stroopwafel.
• MileagePlus members between the ages of 18 to 22 received a discount on domestic flights when booked through the United mobile app through the end of 2019.
• Opened the fifth of its award-winning United Polaris Lounges at Los Angeles International Airport.
• Opened three new United Clubs at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, LaGuardia Airport and Raleigh-Durham International Airport.
• Announced the addition of more than 1,600 United Polaris® business class and United First seats to nearly 250 international and domestic aircraft.
• Began flight operations at LaGuardia Airport's new Terminal B Eastern Concourse.
• Customers can now pre-pay for bags as soon as their ticket is issued. Previously customers had to wait until check-in to pay for their bags.
• Announced partnership with CLEAR which includes a free or discounted CLEAR membership for U.S.-based MileagePlus members.

Network

• Announced a total of nine new international routes and two new expanded routes beginning in 2020, including four new daily nonstop flights to Tokyo Haneda Airport.
• Strengthened the domestic route network with 69 new routes including launching 54 new routes and announcing 15 routes beginning in 2020.
• Launched 11 new international routes in 2019, including direct flights from Newark Liberty International Airport to Cape Town, South Africa; Prague, Czech Republic; and Naples, Italy.

Fleet

• Took delivery of 49 aircraft in 2019, including eight Boeing 787-10 aircraft, becoming the first carrier in the world to operate all three Dreamliner models.
• Signed agreements to purchase 50 Airbus A321 XLR, 20 used Boeing 737-700 aircraft and 20 Embraer E175 aircraft operated by our regional partners.
• Introduced a brand new and revolutionary regional flying experience with the addition of the two-cabin, 50-seat Bombardier CRJ 550 aircraft.
• Unveiled next paint design, which brings a refreshed look to its fleet, serving as a visual representation of the airline's ongoing brand evolution.
• Launched Boeing 767-300ER ultra-premium United Polaris business class configuration on all flights between New York/Newark and Chicago to London-Heathrow.

Community and Environment

• Launched Miles on a Mission, a first-of-its-kind crowdsourcing platform which gives customers a simple way to donate miles to non-profit organizations and charities in need of air travel.
• Pledged on Giving Tuesday to match up to 10 million MileagePlus miles to featured Miles on a Mission partners.
• Committed $40 million toward a new investment initiative focused on accelerating the development of sustainable aviation fuels and other decarbonization technologies.
• Made history with the departure of the "Flight for the Planet," the most eco-friendly commercial flight of its kind in the history of aviation.
• Renewed contract with Boston-based World Energy to purchase up to 10 million gallons of cost-competitive, commercial-scale, sustainable aviation biofuel.
• Launched Her Art Here, a contest where two women artists were chosen to have their work painted on California- and New York/New Jersey-themed Boeing 757s to uplift underrepresented women artists.
• Celebrated Women in Aviation International's annual Girls in Aviation Day by hosting more than 500 girls in 14 locations around the world.
• Became the first public company to be inducted into Pride Live's Stonewall Ambassador program in recognition of the airline's commitment to LGBTQ+ equality.
• Reached a milestone of 1 million meals packed for charity partner Rise Against Hunger.
• Donated $1 million to Feeding America's Shutdown Response Fund to directly support the food banks providing food for families of federal workers.

Earnings Call

UAL will hold a conference call to discuss its fourth quarter and full year 2019 financial results as well as its financial and operational outlook for first quarter and full year 2020 on Wednesday, January 22, at 9:30 a.m. Central time / 10:30 a.m. Eastern time. A live, listen-only webcast of the conference call will be available at ir.united.com. The webcast will be available for replay within 24 hours of the conference call and then archived on the website for three months.

About United

United's shared purpose is "Connecting People. Uniting the World." We are more focused than ever on our commitment to customers through a series of innovations and improvements designed to help build a great experience: Every customer. Every flight. Every day. Together, United and United Express operate approximately 4,900 flights a day to 362 airports across six continents. In 2019, United and United Express operated more than 1.7 million flights carrying more than 162 million customers. United is proud to have the world's most comprehensive route network, including U.S. mainland hubs in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, New York/Newark, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. United operates 791 mainline aircraft and the airline's United Express partners operate 581 regional aircraft. United is a founding member of Star Alliance, which provides service to 195 countries via 26 member airlines. For more information, visit united.com, follow @United on Twitter and Instagram or connect on Facebook. The common stock of United's parent, United Airlines Holdings, Inc., is traded on the Nasdaq under the symbol "UAL".

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Certain statements included in this release are forward-looking and thus reflect our current expectations and beliefs with respect to certain current and future events and anticipated financial and operating performance. Such forward-looking statements are and will be subject to many risks and uncertainties relating to our operations and business environment that may cause actual results to differ materially from any future results expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. Words such as "expects," "will," "plans," "anticipates," "indicates," "believes," "estimates," "forecast," "guidance," "outlook," "goals," "targets" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. 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Our actual results could differ materially from these forward-looking statements due to numerous factors including, without limitation, the following: our ability to execute our strategic operating plan, including our growth, revenue-generating and cost-control initiatives; general economic conditions (including interest rates, foreign currency exchange rates, investment or credit market conditions, crude oil prices, costs of aircraft fuel and energy refining capacity in relevant markets); risks of doing business globally, including instability and political developments that may impact our operations in certain countries; demand for travel and the impact that global economic and political conditions have on customer travel patterns; our capacity decisions and the capacity decisions of our competitors; competitive pressures on pricing and on demand; changes in aircraft fuel prices; disruptions in our supply of aircraft fuel; our ability to cost-effectively hedge against increases in the price of aircraft fuel, if we decide to do so; the effects of any technology failures or cybersecurity breaches; disruptions to services provided by third-party service providers; potential reputational or other impact from adverse events involving our aircraft or operations, the aircraft or operations of our regional carriers or our code share partners or the aircraft or operations of another airline; our ability to attract and retain customers; the effects of any terrorist attacks, international hostilities or other security events, or the fear of such events; the mandatory grounding of aircraft in our fleet; disruptions to our regional network; the impact of regulatory, investigative and legal proceedings and legal compliance risks; the success of our investments in other airlines, including in other parts of the world; industry consolidation or changes in airline alliances; the ability of other air carriers with whom we have alliances or partnerships to provide the services contemplated by the respective arrangements with such carriers; costs associated with any modification or termination of our aircraft orders; disruptions in the availability of aircraft, parts or support from our suppliers; our ability to maintain satisfactory labor relations and the results of any collective bargaining agreement process with our union groups; any disruptions to operations due to any potential actions by our labor groups; labor costs; an outbreak of a disease that affects travel demand or travel behavior; the impact of any management changes; extended interruptions or disruptions in service at major airports where we operate; U.S. or foreign governmental legislation, regulation and other actions (including Open Skies agreements, environmental regulations and the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union); the seasonality of the airline industry; weather conditions; the costs and availability of aviation and other insurance; the costs and availability of financing; our ability to maintain adequate liquidity; our ability to comply with the terms of our various financing arrangements; our ability to realize the full value of our intangible assets and long-lived assets; and other risks and uncertainties set forth under Part I, Item 1A., "Risk Factors," of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018, our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2019, as well as other risks and uncertainties set forth from time to time in the reports we file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

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On January 1, 2019, United Airlines Holdings, Inc. ("UAL") adopted Accounting Standards Update No. 2016-02, Leases ("Topic 842"). As such, certain previously reported 2018 figures are adjusted in this report on a basis consistent with Topic 842.