JetBlue, UAL surprise with earnings

CHICAGO – Packed planes brought in better-than-expected profit for two airlines Tuesday, as both UAL Corp. and JetBlue Airways Corp. surprised Wall Street with improved third-quarter earnings.

Shares of both companies climbed as the industry showed glimmers of resurgence – at least temporarily – after quarters of weakness.

At Chicago-based UAL, the parent company of United Airlines, pared-down costs and better passenger revenue helped boost earnings nearly 76 percent to $334 million, its best quarterly profit in more than seven years.

Meanwhile, low-cost carrier JetBlue reported its first third-quarter profit in two years, earning $23 million compared with a year-ago loss.

JetBlue’s profit for the three months ended Sept. 30 rose to $23 million, or 12 cents per share. One year ago, JetBlue lost $500,000, breaking even on a per-share basis.

Revenue rose to $765 million from $628 million a year ago. Plane occupancy grew 1.6 percentage points over the year-earlier period to 82 percent, while capacity jumped 10.9 percent.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had expected earnings of 7 cents per share on revenue of $767.4 million, on average.

At UAL, the nation’s No. 2 carrier, earnings for the July-through-September quarter amounted to $2.21 per share, up from $190 million, or $1.30 per share, during the same period last year.

Excluding special items, many related to the company’s emergence from federal bankruptcy protection in February 2006, the company earned $295 million, or $1.96 per share, easily topping Wall Street forecasts.

Company revenue climbed 6.8 percent to $5.53 billion.

On average, analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial forecast earnings of $1.88 a share on revenue of $5.36 billion.