United Airlines : The Epitome of Uncertainty in the Markets — Kolin Lukas

United Airlines reported a net loss of $1.9 billion for the fourth quarter — and $7.1 billion for all of 2020.

The company’s CEO, Scott Kirby (whom Marketplace spoke with in December), said before the earnings call Thursday morning that “aggressively managing the challenges of 2020 depended on our innovation and fast-paced decision-making.”

United said it expects total operating revenue in the first quarter of this year to be down 65% to 70% from the same time two years ago. Which means the airline has to make a number of short-term decisions now to stay afloat. United’s trying to be as nimble as it can, but industry consultant Michael Boyd said that’s not saying much when discussing airlines.

“That means that you’re moving the transom of the Titanic a little quicker than somebody else,” he said.

The biggest challenge for the whole industry is to cut losses quickly.

“The idea being, we’ll try something, but if it doesn’t work, we get the hell out and try something different,” Boyd said.

Nobody really knows when demand for flights will return to what it was before the pandemic, or if it ever will. Some are hopeful we’ll…