United Airlines third-quarter profit falls, hurt by storms

United Airlines on Wednesday said its third-quarter net income fell by a third to $669 million from the year-ago period, partly due to $185 million in pretax losses caused by canceled flights during the Atlantic hurricane season.

The Chicago-based carrier's passenger revenue per available seat mile, a closely watched measurement of an airline's performance, fell 3.7 percent, about 1 percentage point of which was attributable to disruptions caused by storms.

For the current quarter, United forecast that passenger revenue per available seat mile would decline by 1 percent to 3 percent.

(Reporting by Alana Wise; Editing by Bill Rigby)