Reporting its first quarterly results since exiting Chapter 11 in February (ATWOnline, Feb. 2), United Airlines parent UAL Corp. said it lost $306 million excluding bankruptcy-related items, widened from a deficit of $302 million in the year-ago period.Including noncash gains related to its restructuring, United earned $22.9 billion in the three months ended March 31 versus a loss of $223 million last year.

"The company today is on strong financial footing," Chairman, President and CEO Glenn Tilton told investors and analysts. He added that UAL successfully slashed billions of dollars in costs and obligations via its extended restructuring process and is now "deploying our assets more intelligently."

Operating revenues rose 14% to $4.47 billion while operating expenses jumped 11.3% to $4.64 billion. This led to an operating loss of $171 million, narrowed from a loss of $250 million in the 2005 period. "Improvement was all on the revenue side," CFO Jake Brace said. "Clearly we can do better" in lowering operating costs.

Mainline yield climbed 9.1% to 11.82 cents on a 2.5% increase in mainline RPMs. With mainline capacity up less than 1%, load factor improved 1.4 points, pushing mainline RASM ahead 11.2% to 11.01 cents. CASM rose 11.1% to 11.42 cents but just 3.3% to 8.03 cents excluding fuel and nonairline-related activities.

COO Pete McDonald said United is "attacking nonfuel costs with a comprehensive strategy" that emphasizes improved "resource optimization" such as reducing aircraft turn-times at major airports by an average of 8 min. The airline is targeting $300 million in cost savings this year compared to 2005 and an additional $400 million in 2007 "over and above what is in the business plan," which will be generated by more efficient operations.