UAL Trims 2nd-Quarter Loss Despite Higher Fuel Costs Thursday July 29, 2:37 PM EDT CHICAGO -- United Airlines parent company UAL Corp. (UALAQ) reported a much narrower second-quarter loss as lower restructuring costs and increased revenue helped offset soaring fuel expenses. UAL on Thursday posted a net loss of $247 million, or $2.25 a share, compared with a year-earlier net loss of $623 million, or $6.26 a share. Both quarters included reorganization costs in connection with UAL's bankruptcy proceedings: $144 million in the latest quarter, and $397 million in the year-earlier period. Year-earlier results also included $300 million in government aid related to the war in Iraq. Excluding items in both periods, UAL's loss totaled $103 million, or 95 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $476 million, or $4.79 a share. Analysts, on average, expected UAL to post a loss excluding items of $1.66 a share, according to Thomson First Call. Revenue rose 30% to $4.04 billion from $3.11 billion. Passenger revenue at United was up 24% to $3.24 billion. Operating expenses increased 14% to $4.03 billion, while salaries and related costs declined 14% to $1.21 billion. Aircraft fuel expenses rose 53% to $693 million. Average fuel price for the quarter was $1.18 per gallon, up 36% year- over-year, UAL noted. United's passenger load factor, or the percentage of seats filled on flights, rose to 82% from 77% a year earlier. Capacity, measured in available seat miles, rose 13% to 36.24 billion. Revenue passenger miles, another measure of performance, rose 20% to 29.73 billion. A revenue passenger mile is one paying passenger flown one mile. "United's financial performance met our expectations given historically high fuel prices," Jake Brace, United's executive vice president and chief financial officer, said in a prepared statement. "Even though we are experiencing strong traffic -- in June we reported our highest load factor ever -- the pricing environment prohibits us from recouping these high costs, " he also said. UAL said booked load factors for August are about even with last year, while September booked load factors are running ahead of last year. The company said capacity for 2004 is expected to be up about 6% compared with 2003, while fuel prices for the third quarter are expected to average about $ 1.23 a gallon. Roger EWROPS