United Airlines CEO

It’s not an accident that United Airlines’ cargo business in the second quarter dwarfed that of Delta Air Lines and American Airlines.

United Airlines lost $1.6 billion in the second quarter. Given that a pandemic has hammered passenger travel, that’s relatively good. Company officials say maintaining capacity discipline for the foreseeable future is critical to get back to profitability.

United Airlines got pummeled by the coronavirus pandemic in the second quarter, losing $1.6 billion before special charges. But cargo revenue jumped because of the huge number of cargo flights it operated without passengers to worry about.

Mass layoffs can help a company survive the coronavirus recession for the time being, but the damage will hurt its long-term prospects, United CEO Scott Kirby says.

United Airlines’ new CEO is putting his stamp on the company right away with a new tteam to steer the company through the coronavirus pandemic and beyond.

Airlines and analysts are lowering expectations for a quick bounce back in business this summer because there still is so much uncertainty about the coronavirus.