The parent of United Airlines said Tuesday it lost $61 million in the fourth quarter, but UAL Corp. still managed to post a $25 million profit in the 11 months since emerging from bankruptcy protection in February.
For the quarter that ended Dec. 31, UAL’s loss amounted to 55 cents per share. For the February-December period, the company earned $25 million. UAL has not earned a full-year profit since 2000 when it made $322 million.
UAL was in bankruptcy protection during the 2005 fourth quarter, when it lost $16.9 billion — most of which was related to reorganization charges. United emerged from bankruptcy protection in February.
Revenue rose 5 percent to $4.6 billion in the latest quarter from $4.4 billion a year ago, but still fell short of Wall Street expectations.
On average, analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial forecast a quarterly loss of 35 cents per share and revenue of $4.7 billion. The estimates typically exclude one-time items.
Elk Grove Village, Ill.-based UAL is the nation’s second largest airline by traffic.