By Yasin Ebrahim

United Airlines Holdings (NASDAQ) reported Wednesday’s first-quarter results. Although the top and bottom line numbers were disappointing, it said it was expecting to turn a profit as the business travel industry appears to be improving. 

After-hours trading saw United Airlines share prices rise by more than 5% 

United Airlines Holdings posted a loss of $4.24 per share for revenue of $7.57billion. Investing.com polled analysts and predicted a loss per share of $4.14 on revenues of $7.6billion.

First quarter cost per available seat mile, or CASM was up 21% compared with the first quarter 2019.

Looking ahead, the airline said it expects to be profitable in fiscal 2022, and touted the return of business travel, a crucial driver of growth.  “The company is also seeing indications that business travel is rapidly returning and expects further improvement in international travel, including Asia.”

For the second quarter, the airline forecasts total revenue per available seat mile to rise by 17%, with operating margin growth of 10%.  United Airlines reported that this is approximately 2.9% below 2019 operating margin. It also represents 3.5% lower than 2019 adjusted operational margin.