#United Airlines stock tumbles after massive COVID losses

United Airlines’ stock price plunged Thursday after the coronavirus pandemic drove the carrier to its fourth consecutive quarterly loss.

United shares dropped as much as 6.1 percent to $42.41 following the company’s brutal Wednesday earnings report, which showed adjusted net losses of $2.1 billion for the final three months of 2020 and $7.7 billion for the entire year.

The fourth-quarter loss of $7 per share came in worse than Wall Street analysts’ expectations for losses of $6.60 a share.

Calling the COVID-19 pandemic “the most disruptive crisis in aviation history,” Chicago-based United said it burned through an average of $33 million in cash a day during the October-to-December quarter even as it worked to shore up its finances.

The airline said it’s treating 2021 as “a transition year that’s focused on preparing for a recovery.” It has developed plans to slash some $2 billion in annual costs and restarted heavy maintenance on its planes, work that will prove important once demand for travel recovers.

But United says the transitional year will get off to a rocky start — it expects first-quarter operating revenue to be 65 to 70 percent below 2019’s levels, while flight capacity will be down at least 51 percent.

“Aggressively managing the challenges of 2020 depended on our innovation and fast-paced decision making. But, the truth is that COVID-19 has changed United Airlines forever,” CEO Scott Kirby said in a statement.

United furloughed more than 13,000 workers in October after the expiration of a federal bailout package meant to keep airline staffers on payrolls.

The company brought those workers back after Congress passed a relief bill last month that included another $15 billion in payroll aid. But United reportedly said those recalls could be temporary because demand for travel is still under pressure.

United isn’t alone in its suffering — Atlanta-based rival Delta posted its first annual loss in more than a decade last week. CEO Ed Bastian called 2020 “the worst year in company history” but said 2021 would be “the year of recovery.”

With Post wires