United Bets It Can Beat Fuel Surge — and Outprice Budget Rivals
Photo Credit: A United Boeing 787 Dreamliner at Los Angeles International Airport. Vincenzo Pace / Vincenzo Pace
Skift Take
United Airlines executives are bullish that the carrier will be able to completely offset rising fuel costs this year.
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby is betting that the carrier can still make a healthy profit despite dealing with a $400 million hit to its bottom line caused by the surge in jet fuel prices.
Kirby said United is looking to fully offset the increase in fuel prices this year, adding it would take $4.6 billion in revenue to counter that cost. Bookings are expected to be up 14% for the month of March.
“You can look at all that data and you can certainly make a credible case that at least as the environment sits today, that we recover 100% of that increase in fuel price,” Kirby said at the JPMorgan Industrials Conference on Tuesday. “So we'll see what ha
