United Airlines has reported a sharp uptick in corporate travel demand at the start of the year, with executives describing the outlook for business travel as “really pretty amazing” following a strong January performance.
Speaking on the airline’s earnings call on Wednesday, United’s chief commercial officer Andrew Nocella said business travel revenue in early January was up by “high single digits” year on year, with momentum continuing to build as the month progressed.
“If the trend holds, you’ll see growth for the last two weeks of January for business travel up 12 per cent, 13 per cent, even 14 per cent,” Nocella said. “The further you push this math into February and March, the stronger it potentially goes. It’s still early in the year, but we’re off to a great start from a business point of view.”
He cautioned, however, that a similar pattern had emerged at the start of last year before growth tailed off. Business travel volumes looked strong in January 2025 as well, he said, but ended up increasing by only low single digits year on year in February and March.
While United did not break out fourth-quarter corporate demand in detail, executives highlighted a continued shift towards higher-yielding products. Premium cabins significantly outperformed economy in the final quarter of the year.
“Premium cabin revenue was up 12 per cent year over year on 7 per cent more capacity,” Nocella said, compared with main cabin revenue growth of just 1 per cent on 6 per cent higher capacity. Over the full year, premium revenue rose by around 11 per cent compared with 2024, while standard and basic economy revenue fell by approximately 5 per cent.
United also announced a leadership change within its loyalty division. Nocella confirmed that Jarad Fisher has been appointed as the new head of the airline’s MileagePlus scheme. Fisher is set to start on 2 February and will report directly to Nocella as vice-president and president of the programme.
In addition, United has appointed former American Airlines chief commercial officer Vasu Raja as a consultant for an initial six-month period. Raja will lead United’s Kinective Media platform, focusing on strengthening the airline’s technology stack, data capabilities and targeted marketing, with the team reporting to Nocella.
Raja left American Airlines in June 2024 following a turbulent period marked by a major shift in corporate distribution strategy tied to New Distribution Capability (NDC). American later reversed course, reinstated EDIFACT content and sought to rebuild lost corporate market share after the strategy contributed to around $1.5 billion in losses in 2024.
United reported fourth-quarter passenger revenue of $13.9 billion, up 4.9 per cent year on year, while total quarterly revenue reached a record $15.4 billion, a 4.8 per cent increase and the highest quarterly figure in the airline’s history.
The carrier said a US government shutdown weighed on fourth-quarter pre-tax earnings by around $250 million.
For the full year, United posted passenger revenue of more than $53.4 billion, up 3.1 per cent compared with 2024. Total full-year revenue rose to $59 billion, from $57.1 billion a year earlier.
The results underline growing optimism among US network carriers that corporate travel demand, particularly in premium cabins, is regaining momentum, even as airlines remain cautious about extrapolating early-year strength too far ahead.