United Airlines has outlined its efforts to manage through “the most disruptive global crisis in the history of aviation” while reporting a first quarter loss of $1.7 billion.
The carrier expects daily cash burn to average between $40 million and $45 million during the second quarter of the year.
United has raised $4 billion since early March in three secured term loan facilities, new aircraft financings and an equity offering in addition to a total of $9.5 billion in US government aid.
United’s loss for the first three months of the year compares with $2.2 billion deficit for the same period suffered by rival American Airlines.
More than 20,000 of United’s staff are now participating in voluntary unpaid leaves of absence.
It also became the first major US airline to require all flight attendants to wear masks on duty.
Chief executive Oscar Munoz said: “Throughout the Covid-19 crisis we have maintained our focus – first on the safety of our customers and our people and second on swiftly taking action to keep United operating.
“We have been at the forefront of warning how deep of an impact we expect this crisis could have and how long we expect it could last.
“We’ve also led the industry in taking decisive steps to mitigate the operational and financial impacts of Covid-19 – making deep schedule reductions, drastically reducing spending and aggressively raising liquidity.
“While we are still in the midst of this crisis, we will not hesitate to make difficult decisions we believe will ensure the long term success of our company.
“When demand returns, we believe we’ll be positioned to bounce back strongly and quickly because of our early and aggressive efforts to fight the worst financial crisis in aviation history.”