Briefs for Thursday

CHICAGO – United Airlines lost $646 million in the fourth quarter and said Wednesday that the current spike in COVID-19 cases will hurt its results in the March quarter.

The airline said it expects its first-quarter revenue will be down 20% to 25% from the same period in 2019. Costs other than fuel will rise about 15% on a per-seat basis.

The omicron variant of the virus is showing up in United’s plans for 2022.

The airline had once hoped to operate 5% more flights than it did in 2019, but now expects to fly less this year than it did before the pandemic.

United said omicron is hurting near-term bookings, but the outlook is better for travel in spring and summer. The Chicago-based airline said it is on track to hit long-term financial targets for 2023 and 2026.

Company officials are scheduled to discuss the results with analysts on Thursday.

United’s fourth-quarter loss compared with a loss of $1.9 billion a year ago and profit of $641 million in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Excluding special items, the company said its adjusted loss was $1.60 per share. Analysts expected a wider loss of $2.09 per share, according to a FactSet survey.

Revenue was $8.19 billion, 25% below the same period in 2019 but better than the $7.96 billion forecast by analysts.

Passengers flew 28% fewer miles than they did two years earlier.

United lost $1.96 billion for all of 2021, even after getting $4 billion in federal pandemic relief to help cover labor costs.

The airline finished the year with 84,100 employees, down from 95,900 at the end of 2019.

U.S., UK open talks to end tariffs on steel, aluminum

WASHINGTON – The United States and the United Kingdom have agreed to begin talks on removing former President Donald Trump’s import taxes on British steel and aluminum.

In a joint statement Wednesday, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and U.K. Trade Minister Anne-Marie Tevelyan said they would be working toward a swift deal that ensures the viability of the steel and aluminum industries in both countries and also “strengthens their democratic alliance.’’

In 2018, Trump imposed tariffs of 25% on foreign steel and 10% on aluminum, calling them a threat to U.S. national security – a move that outraged the British, Europeans and other longstanding American allies.

Although President Joe Biden had criticized Trump for alienating allies, he was slow once taking office a year ago to undo the metals tariffs, popular in the politically important steel-producing states.

Last year, the Biden administration reached a deal with the European Union, agreeing to drop the tariffs on EU metals that come in below new import quotas and continuing to tax imports that exceed them.

The EU dropped retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products, including whiskey.

In a statement Wednesday, the U.K. Department for International Trade said: “Our focus now is on reaching a speedy resolution that lifts these tariffs promptly and clears the way for our thriving trading relationship to grow.”

U.S. distillers are hoping the talks with Britain will lead to an end to the U.K.’s remaining tariffs on American spirits.

Critics said all along that Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs did little to address the real problem confronting American producers of steel and aluminum: overproduction by China.

From wire reportsBut the United States already shuts out most Chinese steel. So the Trump tariffs dealt out punishment mostly to American allies.