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United Continental's Traffic in May Rises, Load Factor Falls

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United Continental Holdings, Inc. (UAL - Free Report) , the Chicago-based parent company of United Airlines posted traffic numbers for the month of May. Traffic – measured in revenue passenger miles (RPMs) – was 18.5 billion, up 2.6% from 18 billion recorded a year ago.

On a year-over-year basis, consolidated capacity (or available seat miles/ASMs) inched up 3.7% to 22.7 billion. Consequently, load factor (percentage of seats filled by passengers) decreased to 81.6% from 82.5%, a year ago. This was because capacity expansion outpaced traffic growth.

At the end of the first five months of 2017, the carrier has recorded a 3.3% increase in RPMs to 83.7 billion, while ASMs grew 3.1% to 103.6 billion, both on a year-over-year basis. Load factor increased 20 basis points to 80.8% in the period as traffic growth outpaced capacity expansion.

The company posted an on-time performance of 70.3% and a completion factor of 99.8% for May. According to United Airlines President Scott Kirby, the carrier was the top performer in the industry for on-time departures in May for a second consecutive month.

Second-Quarter Guidance

The company’s expectation for consolidated passenger unit revenue in second-quarter 2017 remains unchanged at an increase of 1% to 3%, compared to the second quarter of 2016.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

United Continental currently carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Some other favorably ranked stocks in the industry are Air France-KLM SA (AFLYY - Free Report) , Deutsche Lufthansa AG (DLAKY - Free Report) and Hawaiian Holdings, Inc. . All sport a Zacks Rank #1. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Shares of Air France-KLM, Deutsche Lufthansa and Hawaiian Holdings gained above 67%, 39% and 23% over a period of three months.

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