United Airlines disasterous year for the industry with a full year loss of $7 billion, which is its largest for 15 years.
It posted a net loss of $1.9 billion in the fourth quarter as revenue fell nearly 70%.
It doesn’t expect a fast turnaround during this year and 2021 will be a ‘transitional’ one.
It won’t start showing improvements on its 2019 pre-pandemic performance until 2023 the airline said.
"Aggressively managing the challenges of 2020 depended on our innovation and fast-paced decision making. But, the truth is that Covid-19 has changed United Airlines forever," the carrier’s CEO, Scott Kirby, said in an earnings release.
United stated it had nearly $20 billion liquidity as of the end of 2020.
Now it will focus on cutting costs and aims to shrink about $2 billion from annual outgoings through 2023.
Its daily cash burn averaged $33 million a day during the fourth quarter, which is actually higher than the previous quarter.
The airline hasn’t given specifics on when it expects to reach cash flow break-even but is targeting sometime in 2021.
Written by Ray Montgomery, US Editor
