United Continental Holdings reported a full-year 2016 net profit of US$2.3b, down 69.2% from net income of $7.3b in 2015. However, United’s 2015 earnings included a one-time $3.1b non-cash tax valuation benefit that skews year-over-year comparisons, especially since 2016’s earnings include a one-time tax expense of $1.5b. On a pre-tax basis, United’s 2016 net profit was $3.8b, down 9.5% from $4.2b on a similar basis in 2015. United’s 2016 revenue dropped 3.5% year-over-year to $36.6b while expenses decreased 1.5% to $32.2b, producing an operating profit of $4.3b, down 16% from operating income of $5.2b in 2015. United’s consolidated RASM fell 5.4% year-over-year in 2016 to 14.4 cents, but RASM was down just 1.8% in Q4. <br/>
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Lufthansa is not in talks with Etihad about the Abu Dhabi-based carrier taking a stake in the German airline, a source familiar with the matter said Tuesday in response to an Italian media report. "A financial stake is out of the question at the moment," the source, who is familiar with Lufthansa's plans, said. Italian paper Il Messaggero earlier Tuesday reported that Etihad and Lufthansa were in talks about a Etihad taking a 30-40% stake as a precursor to a merger, although analysts said they viewed a deal as unlikely. Lufthansa is also not in talks about buying the rest of Air Berlin, part-owned by Etihad, the source added. Lufthansa CE Carsten Spohr had poured cold water on that Air Berlin speculation last week, saying Air Berlin's high costs, debt pile and also antitrust concerns would be obstacles to any deal. <br/>
SAS is eying up a potential base in Ireland to reduce costs, Danish newspaper Berlingske reported Tuesday. The newspaper said that the airline could be looking to follow in the footsteps of its competitor Norwegian Airlines by seeking a license to operate from Ireland so that the airline can also register aircraft here. It also suggests that SAS could seek to follow Norwegian in looking to employ staff on different terms via its international base. London Heathrow was also cited as a potential candidate for an international base, with SAS potentially seeking an Irish license but choosing to set up its base in the UK. Berlingske reports that SAS refused to comment on what any new hub structure might look like, but the company said that it is looking at its whole way of operating, given the extremely competitive industry in which it operates. <br/>
Air Canada saw its operations disrupted by a computer glitch Tuesday that resulted in delayed flights and cancellations. The airline said the IT system hardware problem was resolved by the afternoon, but not before it caused problems at airports and online. Several Air Canada flights departing from its hub at Toronto's Pearson International and Montreal's Trudeau International were cancelled. On its website, the airline said some of the flights were affected by adverse weather including freezing rain. However, it also acknowledged that "a small handful" of flights were cancelled because of the outage. The troubles came days after Toronto-based Porter Airlines experienced a computer outage that saw forced a 2.5-hour ground stop Saturday. Five Porter flights were cancelled. <br/>