US Airways and United narrow 1Q losses

US Airways Group Inc., which called off merger talks with United Airlines last week, said Tuesday that it narrowed its quarterly loss, exceeding Wall Street expectations with the help of higher passenger revenue and a return of business travel.

United Airlines also posted a smaller-than-anticipated first-quarter loss Tuesday, saying it collected more passenger revenue and planes were fuller than the same period a year ago.

Tempe, Ariz.-based US Airways, Philadelphia's largest carrier, said it lost $45 million, or 28 cents a share, compared with a loss of $103 million, or 90 cents a share, a year earlier.

"The improvement would have been even more pronounced except for extreme winter storms along the East Coast during the quarter, which impacted US Airways more than many of our competitors," said US Airways CEO Doug Parker. The company said it lost $30 million in revenue during February as a result of severe winter weather.

Excluding onetime charges, US Airways lost 55 cents a share. Analysts expected a loss of 71 cents on revenue of $2.63 billion. The airline said revenue improved 8 percent to $2.65 billion. US Airways ended the quarter with unrestricted cash and investments of $1.6 billion, up $100 million from the end of December 2009.

Chicago-based United, which is in merger talks with Continental Airlines, said it lost $82 million, or 49 cents a share, in the quarter ended March 31, compared with a $382 million loss, or $2.64 per share, a year earlier.

Excluding onetime items, United lost 55 cents a share. Analysts expected a loss of 72 cents a share.

United said its first-quarter revenue gained 15 percent, to $4.24 billion. The company ended the quarter with unrestricted cash of more than $3.5 billion. United said the February winter storms hurt revenue by about $40 million.

In its earnings release, United did not mention its negotiations with Continental, although reports from people familiar with the talks say the two airlines have disagreed over how to calculate the share price in a potential stock-swap merger.

US Airways shares were up 36 cents, or 5.56 percent, to $6.84 in morning trading.

United shares rose 10 cents, or 0.45 percent, to $22.46.