United’s bookings remain high as hub strategy pays off: Leskinen
As numerous US airlines revised their Q3 results estimates due to higher fuel prices and lower-than-expected bookings, United Airlines remains committed to the financial guidance it published in July, touting its hub-and-spoke network as well as its United Next strategy. Speaking at an investor conference on 13 September, United’s Mike Leskinen, vice-president corporate development and investor relations, said that the Chicago-based carrier is already reaping the rewards, despite higher costs in recent weeks. In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on 6 September, the airline had said that while fuel has risen about 20%, it stood by its earnings estimates, adding they are “consistent with guidance provided” on the company’s Q2 results call on 19 July. Leskinen attributes that in part to the airline’s hub strategy. Comparing Q3 earnings updates from other airlines to their Q2 results shows “how much … each carrier changed revenue expectations and that tells you that there is a very different magnitude of impact on those carriers running point-to-point networks and trying to grow the map”, he says. In the past days, Spirit, Frontier, Southwest and Alaska Airlines have all revised down their Q3 revenue expectations. Higher fuel prices and softer booking trends in the early part of the three-month period are the primary reasons they have given. Leskinen notes that United, meantime, has “not seen any dramatic change in bookings”. “We have seen all the reports coming out today [and] the magnitude of what we have seen from peers was as shocking to us as it was to all of you,” he tells the conference. The airline had a banner summer for international travel, the trends of which, he adds, are likely to continue. “The domestic market doesn’t seem like a demand problem, it seems like a supply problem,” he says. International travel, however, “feels strong and has stability” with the airline seeing the most robust demand for travel across the North Atlantic to Europe. <br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2023-09-14/star/united2019s-bookings-remain-high-as-hub-strategy-pays-off-leskinen
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United’s bookings remain high as hub strategy pays off: Leskinen
As numerous US airlines revised their Q3 results estimates due to higher fuel prices and lower-than-expected bookings, United Airlines remains committed to the financial guidance it published in July, touting its hub-and-spoke network as well as its United Next strategy. Speaking at an investor conference on 13 September, United’s Mike Leskinen, vice-president corporate development and investor relations, said that the Chicago-based carrier is already reaping the rewards, despite higher costs in recent weeks. In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on 6 September, the airline had said that while fuel has risen about 20%, it stood by its earnings estimates, adding they are “consistent with guidance provided” on the company’s Q2 results call on 19 July. Leskinen attributes that in part to the airline’s hub strategy. Comparing Q3 earnings updates from other airlines to their Q2 results shows “how much … each carrier changed revenue expectations and that tells you that there is a very different magnitude of impact on those carriers running point-to-point networks and trying to grow the map”, he says. In the past days, Spirit, Frontier, Southwest and Alaska Airlines have all revised down their Q3 revenue expectations. Higher fuel prices and softer booking trends in the early part of the three-month period are the primary reasons they have given. Leskinen notes that United, meantime, has “not seen any dramatic change in bookings”. “We have seen all the reports coming out today [and] the magnitude of what we have seen from peers was as shocking to us as it was to all of you,” he tells the conference. The airline had a banner summer for international travel, the trends of which, he adds, are likely to continue. “The domestic market doesn’t seem like a demand problem, it seems like a supply problem,” he says. International travel, however, “feels strong and has stability” with the airline seeing the most robust demand for travel across the North Atlantic to Europe. <br/>
