By Rajesh Kumar Singh

CHICAGO (Reuters) -United Airlines Holdings on Wednesday reported a narrower-than-expected fourth-quarter loss, helped by strong holiday travel demand.

Chicago-based Omicron coronavirus variant has depressed near-term demand and the Chicago-based carrier anticipates that revenue for the March quarter will be lower than the January quarter 2019. It said that bookings for spring and beyond are strong.

Rival Delta Air Lines, (NYSE:), last week predicted a quarterly loss. They cited the Omicron variant’s impact on travel.

Massive flight cancellations are due to winter storms or an increase of COVID-19-infected employees. Nearly one-third (33%) of United’s employees at Newark Liberty International Airport were sick in one day. According to United, more than 3,000 people were infected by the virus as of last week.

United Airlines has reduced its flight schedule, and now offers premium pay to its pilots through the end the month.

The current quarter will see the restoration of 82% to 84% pre-pandemic capacities. The projected full-year capacity will be slightly less than it was in 2019, as opposed to the earlier estimate of a 5% rise.

Adjusted basis: The carrier lost $1.60 per diluted share in December quarter compared to $7.00 per diluted share one year ago. Refinitiv’s analysts had on average expected a loss of $2.11 per quarter.

The fourth quarter revenue was $8.19Billion, up from $3.4 billion last year. This beats the consensus estimate at $7.97Billion.

United will be discussing the results with investors and analysts on Thursday morning.