United Airlines said on Thursday it plans to take charges of $169 million in the second quarter tied to the grounding of regional aircraft, headcount reductions and other items. United Continental Holdings Inc, formed in the 2010 merger of UAL Corp and Continental Airlines, said it recorded costs of $66 million to take 21 Embraer ERJ 135 planes out of service. The company said the effect of pilot shortages, new Embraer 175 regional jet deliveries and fuel prices led it to ground the planes.The airline said it still operates nine Embraer ERJ 135 planes and will consider grounding those once purchase agreements tied to them end in the fourth quarter.United, which is closing its hub at Cleveland airport and taking other cost-cutting steps, also said it had $38 million of costs to reduce its workforce. Other charges are tied to merger integration and asset impairment.Shares of United were up 0.3 percent to $45.05.
United Continental Holdings, Inc. (UAL) is a holding company and its principal, wholly owned subsidiaries are United Air Lines, Inc. Shares of UAL traded higher by 0.38% or $0.17/share to $45.07. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $27.32 and as high as $49.20. On average, 6631160 shares of UAL exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 579863.
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