United Airlines Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UAL) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Andrew Nocella: As we head into the summer season, we expect strength across the board and in the United network tilt in terms of our best seasonality towards Q2 and Q3 and particularly across the Atlantic, across specific and TransCon within the United States. So we expect all of those entities to perform really strongly this year. And everything we have in terms of data right now, I would say that’s where we stand.

Mary Schlangenstein: Do you expect to set another record for this summer for passenger numbers?

Andrew Nocella: Yes, I think we will, as an airline and as an industry.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Leslie Josephs from CNBC.

Leslie Josephs: Can you [Technical Difficulty] exactly what the FAA review prohibits you from doing? And is the change to the fleet plan from this year because of the Boeing delays in production and deliveries or because of the FAA review? And then on — just a question on the mechanical issues lately. Have you had to update kind of procedures or anything else for your technicians so that those things don’t happen, maybe things that were getting overlooked or not part of checklist prior?

Scott Kirby: First, the delivery delays are 100% of the issue. And the main focus has been less about changing the policies and processes, but really making sure that everyone keeps safety as a top of mind awareness. And spending a lot more time with the leadership team out talking about it, really making sure that safety is top of mind awareness. Now we, of course, will go through with the FAA and go through a pretty rigorous process and we continuously look at ways to improve safety across the board, and that’s continuing. It’s at an elevated level right now of looking for ideas but that’s not something unique or new that is — we have hundreds of people whose full time jobs are doing that day in and day out.

Leslie Josephs: And the review prevents you from putting new aircraft into service and then what else, is it captain upgrade, anything else?

Scott Kirby: No, that’s not it. We can do captain upgrades.

Leslie Josephs: So it’s just putting new aircraft into service?

Scott Kirby: That’s the primary thing.

Leslie Josephs: When do you expect the review to conclude?

Scott Kirby: That’s, again, the way we would think of this is about going through a process to make it better using this as an opportunity to create a new higher standard, and it will conclude when it concludes. We’re not going to predict the time.

Operator: Thank you. I will now turn the call back over to Kristina Edwards for closing remarks.

Kristina Edwards: Thanks, Krista. And thanks for everyone joining our great call today. Please contact IR and Media Relations if you have any further questions, and we look forward to talking to you next quarter.

Operator: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today’s conference, and you may now disconnect.