United Airlines Q2 2026 Earnings Beat Wall Street Despite $6 Billion Fuel Hit

United posted Q2 adjusted earnings of $1.99 a share, topping Wall Street estimates, even as a $6 billion fuel hit loomed and net income fell 17%.

United Airlines beat Wall Street’s second-quarter profit estimates and raised its full-year guidance despite absorbing nearly $6 billion in added fuel costs from the U.S.-Iran conflict.

United Airlines Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: UAL) reported adjusted earnings of $1.99 per share for the April-through-June period, ahead of the $1.88 average estimate reported by CNBC. Total operating revenue climbed 16% from a year earlier to $17.67 billion.

Net income fell 17% to $805 million, and operating income dropped 17% to $1.096 billion, as fuel expenses jumped 84% to $5.11 billion. The Chicago-based carrier paid an average $4.19 a gallon for jet fuel in the quarter, up from $2.34 a year earlier.

The results illustrate how United’s push into premium seating, loyalty programs and cargo has helped offset a fuel shock that has upended airline financial plans across the country since fighting between the U.S., Israel and Iran erupted in late February. United said it recovered roughly half of its added fuel costs in the second quarter through yields, and expects to recover 80% to 90% in the third quarter and all of it by the fourth quarter.

Chief Executive Scott Kirby said in a statement: “United is built to thrive in every environment, and when oil prices spiked in March, we quickly and decisively acted to adjust our schedules, while simultaneously doubling down on our customer investments.”

United was the first major U.S. airline to cut capacity in response to the fuel spike, trimming about 5% of its schedule in late March, including reduced off-peak flying and the suspension of service to Tel Aviv and Dubai.

Every major revenue category grew from a year earlier: premium revenue rose 16%, Basic Economy revenue rose 11%, loyalty revenue rose 11%, cargo revenue rose 23% to $527 million, and contracted business revenue rose 27%. Yields climbed 12% as United carried 48.7 million passengers in the quarter, up 5.4%, with a load factor of 83.4% and capacity up 3.5%. Passenger revenue totaled $16.1 billion, led by $9.506 billion in domestic revenue, up 20.3%. Pre-tax earnings were $1 billion, a 5.8% pre-tax margin.

For the first half of 2026, United reported revenue of $32.28 billion, up 13.5%, and net income of $1.504 billion, up 10.5%. United ended the quarter with 1,552 aircraft, up from 1,473 a year earlier, and 117,500 employees. Operating cash flow was $1.6 billion, and free cash flow was $322 million.

Kirby said: “Our results show why we have been investing in customer improvements throughout every cabin and winning brand-loyal customers.” He added: “Our brand-loyal customers value their travel on United whether they are in Polaris or in Economy. Our network expansions, investment in Starlink, and innovations such as Relax Row are giving customers new reasons to choose United.”

United raised its full-year 2026 adjusted earnings guidance to a range of $9 to $11 per share, up from the $7-to-$11 range it set in April after the fuel spike forced a sharp cut from its original January guidance of $12 to $14. For the third quarter, United forecast adjusted earnings of $2.50 to $3.50 per share, based on an assumed average fuel price of $3.69 a gallon — a range that trails the roughly $3.60 per share analysts had estimated. United shares fell in after-hours trading following the report.

The guidance boost comes even as fuel prices remain volatile. Jet fuel prices at major U.S. airports rose 34% in July alone through July 14, according to Argus data published by the industry group Airlines for America, and United’s full-year fuel cost increase estimate of roughly $6 billion is based on oil prices as of that date.

The fuel shock traces back to late February, when U.S. and Israeli military strikes on Iran sent oil and jet fuel prices sharply higher. Kirby had warned in early March that the spike would have a “meaningful” impact on United’s first-quarter results. The airline’s full-year guidance was cut to $7-to-$11 per share when it reported first-quarter results in April.

United has continued to expand its network and onboard offerings through the volatility. The airline said 450 mainline and United Express aircraft now have Starlink satellite Wi-Fi installed, with roughly 1,000 expected by the end of the year and its full fleet equipped by the end of 2027 — a rollout the airline said puts it ahead of its large U.S. competitors. United said customer satisfaction scores on Starlink-equipped flights are twice as high as on other United Wi-Fi flights.

United also took delivery of its first Airbus A321XLR on June 3 from Airbus’ Hamburg Finkenwerder facility, the first of 50 the airline has on order. United said the jet, which will replace its 757-200s, seats 150 passengers across four cabin classes, including 20 Polaris lie-flat suites, and has a range of up to 4,700 nautical miles. United said the aircraft burns 30% less fuel per seat than the planes it is replacing and will enter domestic service this fall before flying international routes by early 2027.

The airline flew a company-record 640,717 customers in a single day on June 18 and said it posted its best second-quarter, on-time departure rate since 2021 systemwide and its lowest Q2 seat cancellation rate in company history, excluding the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, along with its best-ever second-quarter on-time performance at Newark. United served 240 airports in the U.S. and Canada in the quarter, its largest domestic schedule ever, and launched 27 new domestic and Canadian routes, including nine from Chicago O’Hare. The airline added transatlantic service from Newark to Bari, Italy; Split, Croatia; Santiago de Compostela, Spain; and Glasgow, Scotland, along with new service from Washington Dulles to Reykjavik, Iceland. United also carried about 347 million pounds of cargo in the quarter, its most for a second quarter since 2020, including more than 9 million pounds of medical shipments.

United said 87.7% of customers checked in digitally in the quarter, a record, and 48.7% bypassed the ticket lobby entirely, also a record. The airline said it launched its first widebody transatlantic Starlink flight in the quarter, with nearly 60 widebody aircraft expected to get the satellite Wi-Fi system this year, and partnered with DIRECTV to bring live sports streaming to Starlink-equipped planes, logging nearly 6,000 flights and 128,000 viewing hours as of July 5. Kirby was named International Executive of the Year by the Executives’ Club of Chicago in the quarter, and United was named to Time’s first-ever World’s Growth Leaders 2026 list. United also became the first U.S. airline to begin recycling on all flights arriving at LAX from outside the U.S. and Canada.

On the balance sheet, United raised $3.7 billion in new liquidity during the quarter through private bank transactions and prepaid about $1 billion of higher-cost debt, ending the quarter with $19.6 billion in available liquidity and $26.5 billion in total debt and finance leases, a trailing 12-month net leverage ratio of 2.2 times. The airline said it is targeting an investment-grade credit rating this year; Fitch Ratings assigned United a BB+ rating in February, one notch below investment grade. Salaries and related costs, United’s largest expense, rose 6.2% to $4.686 billion.

United’s earnings report arrives against a difficult industry backdrop. The International Air Transport Association has projected global airline net profit of $23 billion for 2026, down sharply from an earlier forecast of $41 billion, citing the fuel shock from the U.S.-Iran conflict. Spirit Airlines halted operations in early May, citing soaring fuel prices as a factor.

United, which operates hubs in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, New York/Newark, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., describes itself in the earnings release as “the largest airline in the world.”