United Continental profit drops to USD653m but revenues growing faster than GDP

Following a host of airlines reporting profits, except Southwest and American, United Continental posted a USD653 million profit, down 23.4%, in the third quarter, behind analysts expectations. Had it not been for USD120 million in integration expenses, it would have posted net income of USD773 million. It managed to post a 7.7% pre-tax margin, however. Its return on invested capital is between 8-9%.

Chief revenue officer Jim Compton, responding to a question about revenue performance, suggested the industry might be breaking its historical relationship between revenues and the GDP, which would be the first time an airline executive has suggested this. Revenues usually track GDP but not in recent quarters when they were way ahead of the 2.5% increase in GDP.