United Sinks With $2.1 Billion Loss Heralding More Airline Pain

  • Preliminary results underscore grim upcoming earnings season
  • Carrier reaches sale-leaseback deal with BOC for 22 jetliners

A United Airlines employee waits for a traveler at San Francisco International Airport.

Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
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United Airlines Holdings Inc. tumbled after the company said it expected to record a $2.1 billion loss in the first quarter as the coronavirus outbreak all but erased air-travel demand in March.

The pretax loss, which will be about $1 billion on an adjusted basis, came as revenue dropped 17% from a year earlier to $8 billion, the carrier said Monday in a regulatory filing. The results are preliminary and subject to change.