SCOTT KIRBY

United Airlines has reported a loss for the first quarter.

The CEO of United Airlines says it could be another rocky year for air travelers.

United Airlines says its latest quarterly profit is $329 million, thanks to summer vacationers who are packing airplanes.

Airplanes are a minor contributor to global greenhouse-gas emissions, but their share is sure to grow as more people travel in coming years.

Some airlines say they will consider refunds or credits for passengers who don't want to fly now that the mask mandate has been dropped.

Boston has urged people to start wearing masks, and the Biden administration is weighing its next legal step in a court fight over the abrupt end of the national mask mandate on airplanes and mass transit.

Remember all those thousands of passengers that airlines banned for not wearing face masks.

U.S. airlines say they have hit a turning point: After a lousy first quarter, they expect to be profitable as Americans return to travel in the biggest numbers since the start of the pandemic.

United Airlines says it lost $1.38 billion in the first quarter of 2022 but it expects to return to profitability in the current three-month period as post-pandemic travel ramps back up.

For big companies across the country, it's now up to them to decide whether to require employees to get vaccinated.

American Airlines CEO Doug Parker will retire next March and be replaced by the airline's current president, Robert Isom.

American and Southwest Airlines are reporting that they made profits in the third quarter, thanks to large amounts of government pandemic relief.

The proportion of coronavirus infections and hospitalizations among vaccinated Pennsylvania residents has risen sharply in the past month, although the shots remain broadly protective.

President Joe Biden is championing COVID-19 vaccination requirements and is determined that the roughly 67 million unvaccinated American adults must get the shot even as he acknowledges that mandates weren't his “first instinct.”.

Southwest Airlines says it no longer expects to be profitable in its third quarter.

Connecticut has become the latest state to mandate that workers in nursing homes be vaccinated against COVID-19.

United Airlines will require U.S.-based employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by late October, and maybe sooner.

Airlines say the current rise in new cases of coronavirus aren't scaring away travelers.

United Airlines' shares have tumbled 8.5% after the company reported another big loss.

United Airlines is still losing money, and it's waiting for a turnaround in lucrative business and international travel to get it back to profitability.

United Airlines says it will train 5,000 pilots at its own academy in this decade, and it hopes that half of them will be women or people of color.

Delta Air Lines has canceled about 100 flights due to staff shortages while opening up some middle seats a month earlier than expected to carry more passengers.

United Airlines is confident enough in the travel recovery that it's going to hire new pilots.

Fans of Frontier Airlines can now buy a piece of the budget carrier.

(AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)Across the United States, air travel is recovering more quickly from the depths of the pandemic, and it is showing up in longer airport security lines and busier traffic on airline websites. "Our last three weeks have been the best three weeks since the pandemic hit, and each week has been better than the one prior,” American Airlines CEO Doug Parker said Monday. However, the airlines still have far to go before travel fully returns to pre-pandemic levels. Since the pandemic hit, air travel has picked up a few times — mostly around holidays — only to drop back down. The airline said people are booking leisure trips to beach and mountain destinations but business travel is still lagging.

Airline officials are talking to the Biden administration about support for incentives to use cleaner fuels for airplanes. United Airlines said CEO Scott Kirby asked administration officials to support incentives for sustainable aviation fuel and technology to remove carbon from the atmosphere. A United Nations aviation group has concluded that biofuels will remain a tiny source of aviation fuel for several years. Some environmentalists would prefer the Biden administration to impose tougher emissions standards on aircraft rather than create breaks for biofuels. “We stand ready to work in partnership with the Biden administration.”

United Airlines says it could be using small electric-powered aircraft to take customers to the airport within a few years. United said Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021, that it will buy up to 200 small aircraft capable of helicopter-style takeoffs and landings from startup Archer. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)CHICAGO – United Airlines said Wednesday it will buy up to 200 small electric air taxis to help customers in urban areas get to the airport. United estimated the air taxis could shuttle people from Hollywood to Los Angeles International Airport at about half the carbon emissions per passenger. Chicago-based United portrayed the move as part of a broader plan to invest in technology behind cleaner modes of air travel.

FILE - In this Oct. 15, 2020, file photo, a United Airlines airplane takes off over another United plane on the runway at San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco. United also gave a slightly more pessimistic first-quarter outlook than rival Delta Air Lines did just last week. The January-through-March period is a slow time for air travel even in normal years, but United said first-quarter revenue will be down 65% to 70% from a year ago. That prediction was five points worse than Delta forecast and implied no real improvement over United’s fourth quarter. Except for around Thanksgiving and Christmas, U.S. air travel has stubbornly remained down more than 60% from a year earlier.

FILE - In this Oct. 15, 2020, file photo, a United Airlines airplane takes off over another United plane on the runway at San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco. United lost $7.1 billion in 2020, an amount exceeded only in 2005, when bankruptcy-related costs pushed the company to a $21 billion loss. That was worse than the $6.62 per share loss predicted, on average, by 19 analysts in a FactSet survey. Revenue tumbled to $3.41 billion, nearly matching the $3.42 billion that was forecast by analysts. Shares of United Airlines Holdings Inc. rose 1% to $45.18 in regular trading before the financial results were released.

Empty ticketing counters are seen in Terminal 1 at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2020. United Airlines, which furloughed 13,000 employees this month, is expected to report a large third-quarter loss as the coronavirus pandemic continues to batter air travel. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

United Airlines, which furloughed 13,000 employees this month, is expected to report a large third-quarter loss as the coronavirus pandemic continues to batter air travel. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)United Airlines financial hole grew deeper over the summer as a modest recovery in air travel slowed down, pushing the carrier to a loss of $1.84 billion in the typically strong third quarter. The results from United, and those issued a day earlier by Delta Air Lines, reinforced the damage that the pandemic is doing to a major industry. Seven months into the worst of the coronavirus impact in the U.S., air travel remains down 65% from a year ago. United, Delta and American rely on business and international travelers for much of their revenue.

Those numbers are similar to what Jacksonville Aviation Authoritys Greg Willis says Jacksonville International Airport is seeing. Uniteds move will put pressure on American Airlines and Delta Air Lines to drop their change fees, also $200 on domestic travel. Delta noted that it has waived change fees for travel affected by the virus through the years end. United said that it eliminated change fees for people who buy a standard or premium economy ticket for U.S. travel. United also said that it will extend a broad waiver of change fees including for international travel through Dec. 31.

United's move will put pressure on American Airlines and Delta Air Lines to drop their change fees, also $200 on domestic travel. Delta and American said they are waiving change fees for travel affected by the virus through the year's end. Southwest Airlines does not charge change fees, a policy which its CEO says has helped it gain more business. United said that it eliminated change fees for people who buy a standard or premium economy ticket for U.S. travel. United also said that it will extend a broad waiver of change fees including for international travel through Dec. 31.

That pushed the combined loss of the nation's four biggest airlines to more than $10 billion in just three months. Between them, American and Southwest carried 15.4 million passengers from April through June. Earlier, Delta Air Lines reported a $5.7 billion loss that was worsened by writing down investments in global airline partners who have filed for bankruptcy protection, and United lost $1.6 billion. American, based in Fort Worth, Texas, reported a loss of $2.07 billion, compared with a year-ago profit of $662 million. Seattle-based Alaska Airlines said it lost $214 million compared with a $262 million profit a year earlier.

United Airlines says its face mask requirement now extends to ticket counters and airport lounges. United and all other major U.S. airlines already require passengers to wear masks during flights. United said it limits full flights by substituting larger planes 4,000 times in May and June, it said. Labor is the biggest single expense for most airlines, and United last week warned 36,000 employees that they could be furloughed in October. All of them require passengers other than small children to wear a mask during flights except while eating or drinking.

Travelers push their luggage at the departure terminal of the Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, July 1, 2020. Capri has 98% of its stores open in the Asia and EMEA regions. EgyptAir said around 2,000 passengers left the Cairo international airport on 14 international flights, the first regular flights since the coronavirus outbreak. International travelers have been able to fly into Greece since June 15, but only to Athens or Thessaloniki. United plans to fly 52% of its year-ago domestic schedule in August, but only 25% of its previous international flights.

Travelers wear mask as they wait at the American Airlines ticket counter in Terminal 3 at O'Hare International Airport Tuesday, June 16, 2020, in Chicago. Beginning June 16 at American Airlines and June 18 at United Airlines, all passengers and crew members will be required to wear masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

This is likely to involve the appointment of administrators.TRAVEL & LEISURE: American Airlines will start booking flights to full capacity starting next Wednesday. American said Friday that it will continue to notify customers of full flights and let them change flights at no cost. Since April, American has said it limits bookings to leave about half of middle seats open. Delta, Southwest, Alaska and JetBlue say they block middle seats or limit capacity. United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby has said social distancing is impossible on planes -- even with empty middle seats, people are less than six feet from each other.

(AP Photo/Matt Dunham)The outbreak of the coronavirus has dealt a shock to the global economy with unprecedented speed. Following are developments Friday related to national and global response, the work place and the spread of the virus. ________________________SUPPLY DEMANDED: The virus has upended supply chains and shut stores that would typically furnish goods and services. EARNINGS SEASON: The worst was expected this season and must Wall Street analysts believe the majority of companies at least dodged that. The Buckle, which closed all of its stores on March 18, reported a loss of $11.8 million, and sales slumped 42.7%.

________________________ON AGAIN, OFF AGAIN: Ford temporarily halted production at two assembly plants Tuesday and Wednesday after three workers tested positive for the novel coronavirus. On Wednesday a worker at the pickup truck plant in Dearborn, Michigan, tested positive for COVID-19, Ford confirmed. On Tuesday, Ford temporarily closed its Chicago SUV factory twice after two workers tested positive. Lear confirmed that production was suspended after an employee told the company of a positive COVID-19 test. The UFCW, which represents 900,000 grocery workers, said the number of infections is likely far higher across the industry.