United Airlines posts record Q1 revenue
April 16, 2025
United Airlines has reported its best first-quarter financial results in five years despite acknowledging a “challenging macroeconomic environment;” bringing in record revenue of $13.2 billion during Q1 2025.
With the airline stating it started the year “stronger than any previous year since 2021,” during the first quarter United flew “the largest schedule by available seat miles in its history,” carrying an average of over 450,000 customers a day. As such, its capacity for Q1 was up 4.9% year-on-year, contributing to a total operating revenue also up 5.4% quarter-on-quarter.
Total pre-tax earnings hit $478 million, with United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby explaining that the airline’s ‘Next’ strategy has given it “industry-leading margins in the good times,” while United expects to “expand [its] lead further in challenging economic times”.
Notably, the carrier’s ongoing strategy includes making “prudent adjustments to the utilization rate of its fleet, including ongoing reductions in off-peak flying on lower demand days” – a strategy it will continue into at least Q4 2025. However, it asserted that the demand for international travel “remained strong,” with revenue per available seat mile up 4.7% and 8.5% in the Atlantic and Pacific markets, respectively.
Against the backdrop of ongoing geopolitical uncertainty and speculation over reduced tourism demand for US flights, United added that forward bookings over the last two weeks “have remained stable,” with international bookings up 5% year-over-year. Premium cabin bookings were also up 17% and, continuing a Q1 2025 trend that saw premium cabin revenue rise 9.2% (followed by business revenue up 7.4%).
Underlying a strong Q1 financial performance was United Airlines’ best on-time and departure rates for a first quarter since 2021, with the airline also ranked first in on-time departures at its hubs of San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington DC.
