United Airlines’ shares have reached a record high – just weeks after the US carrier had to apologise for dragging a passenger off one of its flights.
Oscar Munoz, United’s CEO, apologised last month in the aftermath of passenger Dr David Dao being forcibly removed by security staff from an overbooked domestic flight with videos of the incident published around the world.
Despite this PR disaster, United’s parent company United Continental Holdings saw its shares rise to a new high of $78.55 in trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday.
Investors were impressed that United was able to increase passenger traffic by 7.4 per cent in April compared to the same month in 2016.
The airline also managed to increase its load factor by 2.6 percentage points year-on-year in April, as well as setting a new record for the fewest flight cancellations than in any other month during the company’s history.