Earnings season continues this week, with United Airlines and IndiGo reporting their financial results.
United has previously said it expects its highest-revenue quarter in company history in the final three months of 2025, riding the momentum of improving demand. This follows a good third quarter amid capacity and revenue growth.
Later in the week Indian low-cost operator IndiGo will report. The airline’s financial results will be closely watched, particularly given the high-profile operational meltdown it suffered in early December.
That episode resulted in thousands of cancelled and delayed flights – unprecedented in scale for the country’s largest carrier.
On 17 January, Indian regulators hit the airline with a Rs222 million ($2.45 million) fine and put its senior leadership on notice. It followed the release of a report by an inquiry committee – formed at the direction of the Indian civil aviation ministry – on what led to the operational disruptions.
In its report, the four-member committee lists several factors: an “over-optimisation” of flight operations, “inadequate regulatory preparedness” as well as “deficiencies” in its system software support.
As IndiGo prepares to report its financial results, all eyes will be on the financial impact of the three-day disruption, as well as what steps it will take – or has taken – to prevent the reoccurrence of such a disruption.
The disruptions have put the brakes on the carrier’s plans to intensify “growth efforts” – something airline executives mentioned in previous quarters.
Earnings season got off to an early start last week with Delta Air Lines and Korean Air each reporting their fourth-quarter results.
Delta offered a sanguine outlook, forecasting 5-7% year-on-year revenue growth in the first quarter, thanks to what it sees is a balanced-out supply-demand environment.
Korean Air, meanwhile, was more cautious in its outlook, warning of a series of possible headwinds this year – including increased geopolitical ‘volatility’ and softening outbound travel demand – even as it saw a “demand boom” in parts of its network.
The key themes raised by the two operators are likely to be raised by other carriers as they report their earnings.