UAL Records a Better Than Anticipated Profit : Airlines: Summer battles over ticket prices apparently didn’t harm United as badly as its competitors.

CHICAGO — The summer skies were friendlier to United Airlines than to its competitors, according to financial results released Thursday, handing the carrier’s parent a better than expected third-quarter profit.

UAL Corp. said it earned $21.5 million, or 89 cents a share, for the quarter, on higher revenue of $3.58 billion.

The profit was less that UAL earned a year ago--$25 million, or $1.05 a share--but contrasted sharply with quarterly losses at chief rivals American Airlines and Delta Air Lines.

UAL’s increased revenue, which was up 10% from $3.24 billion a year ago, reflected higher passenger traffic that was attracted by cheap summer fares.

Such discounts cut into airlines’ yields during the quarter but apparently hurt United less than others, in part because of cost controls.

Wall Street greeted the report positively, sending UAL’s stock up 62.5 cents a share to $122.

“UAL’s third-quarter results were sharply better than what we expected,” said Kidder Peabody airline analyst Samuel Buttrick, “largely driven by better cost controls and less severe yield declines than the industry generally experienced.”

UAL was nonetheless cautious about its performance, noting that revenue per passenger mile, a key measure of profitability, fell to 11.26 cents in the quarter from 12.02 cents a year earlier.

“Our third-quarter financial performance was exceptionally poor for what is traditionally the strongest quarter in the airline industry,” said Stephen Wolf, UAL chairman and chief executive.

UAL’s third-quarter income was boosted by gains from its stake in the Covia Partnership reservation system and the sale of property. These gains were largely offset by foreign exchange losses and litigation costs.

The latest results included a pretax gain from Covia of $14.1 million, contrasted with a loss of $1.4 million a year ago. Results also included a pretax gain on disposition of property of $17.6 million, contrasted with a year-ago loss of $1.1 million. UAL also said its third-quarter results included foreign exchange losses of $16 million and charges of $8.4 million related to litigation.

“While we are pleased that our efforts to control costs have resulted in a year-over-year decline in unit costs, the revenue weakness that we have experienced throughout the year only serves to underscore the importance of cost control,” Wolf said.

Separately, America West Airlines blamed the summer’s air fare wars for its ninth straight quarterly loss. The Phoenix-based carrier, which is reorganizing under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, lost $70.8 million, or $2.97 per share, on revenue of $321.6 million in the third quarter. It lost $85.2 million, or $3.77 per share, on revenue of $358.7 million, in the 1991 third quarter.