What United Airlines Holdings, Inc. told the SEC could break it.

Aircraft fuel was 21% of United's 2025 operating expense ($11.4B on 4.66B gallons at $2.44/gal); its fuel purchase contracts are indexed to market benchmarks and customarily provide no material protection against price changes or guarantee of availability.

“Our operational and financial results can be significantly impacted by changes in the price and availability of aircraft fuel. The Company routinely enters into purchase contracts based on expected fuel requirements primarily for UAL aircraft (including regional carriers operating under CPAs) that are generally indexed to various market price benchmarks for aircraft fuel. These 5 Table of Contents contracts customarily do not provide material protection against changes in market prices or guarantee the uninterrupted availability of adequate quantities of aircraft fuel.”

United sources substantially all of its aircraft and many parts from just Boeing or Airbus and relies on a limited number of suppliers for engines and certain parts; delivery delays or supplier disruptions (e.g., Boeing production issues) could materially harm fleet plans and operations.

“Substantially all of the Company's aircraft, engines and certain parts are sourced from a limited number of suppliers; therefore, the Company would be materially and adversely affected if it were unable to obtain timely deliveries, additional equipment or support from any of these suppliers.”

Industry-wide operational challenges at airports in United's network (such as the spring 2025 disruptions at its Newark/EWR hub) have limited system-wide capacity and negatively affected results, forcing schedule/capacity reconfiguration and potentially constraining its United Next growth strategy.

“in light of the industry-wide operational challenges at airports in our network that have limited our system-wide capacity (like the operational disruptions experienced at EWR during the spring of 2025), we have reconfigured our proposed flight schedule and capacity to help improve our operational performance and our customers' experience. These industry-wide operational challenges have had a negative impact on our business and operating results and are expected to continue.”

United is subject to extensive DOT and FAA regulation; the FAA periodically issues airworthiness directives requiring carriers to inspect, modify, or ground aircraft, potentially causing substantial unplanned expense, and modification/revocation of certificates could materially harm the business.

“From time to time, the FAA issues directives that require air carriers to inspect, modify or ground aircraft and other equipment, potentially causing the Company to incur substantial, unplanned expenses.”