United Airlines stocks rose more than 10% on Wednesday morning. This happened because the airline predicted it would earn a lot more money in the second quarter than what people on Wall Street thought.
Even though Boeing, the company that makes planes for United, is having some delays in delivering planes, United is still doing well financially.
In the second quarter, United thinks it will make between $3.75 and $4.25 per share. Analysts thought it would only make around $3.76 per share. Airlines usually make most of their money in the second and third quarters when more people travel.
United also said it still expects to earn between $9 and $11 per share for the whole year.
However, United had to change its plans for getting new planes this year. Instead of getting 101 new narrow-body planes, it will only get 61. It also plans to lease 35 Airbus A321neos in 2026 and 2027.
This is because Boeing is having some issues with its plane production, and the government is watching them more closely. United said it was planning to use a type of Boeing plane called Max 10, but now it’s not so sure.
United also had to lower how much money it plans to spend this year on things like buying new planes. They thought it would be around $9 billion, but now they think it will be closer to $6.5 billion.
The airline is also dealing with safety reviews from the government, which are making it harder for them to expand. They had to postpone some new flights because of this.
United also talked about how they lost some money because of a temporary issue with one of Boeing’s planes earlier this year. The FAA, which is the government agency in charge of airplane safety, stopped some Boeing 737 Max 9 planes from flying for a bit because there was a problem with one of the doors.
United lost $124 million in the first quarter of this year, which is less than the $194 million they lost in the same period last year. However, they still made more money than people expected them to.
United’s CEO, Scott Kirby, said he’s not worried about some recent safety concerns with Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner planes. Even though one of Boeing’s engineers said there might be some problems, Kirby said he’s confident the planes are safe.
On Wednesday, airline stocks went up, but Boeing’s stocks went down a little. This happened right before two hearings in the Senate about airplane safety, one of which will include the engineer who raised concerns about Boeing’s planes.
