UAL Income Soars During 3rd Quarter

UAL Inc., parent of the biggest U.S. airline, said its third-quarter earnings nearly quadrupled over a year ago, largely because of a large pretax gain in the company’s hotel division.

Chicago-based UAL, which owns United Airlines, Hertz Corp. and Westin Hotels & Resorts, said earnings for the three months ended Sept. 30 totaled $109.8 million, compared to $22.2 million in the 1985 period.

Revenue totaled $2.54 billion, up 49% from last year’s $1.71 billion. However, the figure is distorted because last year’s results included only one month for Hertz, acquired by UAL on Aug. 30, 1985.

The company said third-quarter earnings benefited from the public offering of the Westin Hotels Limited Partnership, which owns and operates hotels in San Francisco and Chicago, resulting in a pretax gain of $79.8 million.

UAL’s airline division earned $47.5 million, a sixfold increase over the $6.6 million earned in the 1985 quarter, when the carrier was still recovering from a pilots strike. Airline revenue totaled $1.96 billion, compared to $1.45 billion, a 35% increase.