United Airlines Holdings, Inc.UAL
United Airlines Holdings, Inc. Leases Disclosure
LEASES
United leases aircraft, airport passenger terminal space, aircraft hangars and related maintenance facilities, cargo terminals, other airport facilities, other commercial real estate, office and computer equipment and vehicles, among other items. Certain of these leases include provisions for variable lease payments which are based on several factors, including, but not limited to, relative leased square footage, available seat miles, enplaned passengers, passenger facility charges, terminal equipment usage fees, departures, and airports' annual operating budgets. Due to the variable nature of these payments, they are not included in the calculation of the right-of-use asset and lease liability.
Lease Cost. The Company's lease cost for the years ended December 31 included the following components (in millions):
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Operating lease cost | $ | 894 | $ | 855 | $ | 925 | ||||||||||||||
| Variable and short-term lease cost | 4,003 | 3,592 | 3,028 | |||||||||||||||||
| Amortization of finance lease assets | 86 | 62 | 52 | |||||||||||||||||
| Interest on finance lease liabilities | 15 | 16 | 20 | |||||||||||||||||
| Sublease income | (33) | (35) | (39) | |||||||||||||||||
| Total lease cost | $ | 4,964 | $ | 4,490 | $ | 3,986 | ||||||||||||||
Lease Terms and Commitments. United's leases include aircraft leases for aircraft that are directly leased by United and aircraft that are operated by regional carriers on United's behalf under CPAs (but excluding aircraft owned by United) and non-aircraft leases. Aircraft operating leases relate to leases of 81 mainline and 217 regional aircraft while finance leases relate to leases of 27 mainline and 11 regional aircraft. United's aircraft leases have remaining lease terms of up to 12 years with expiration dates ranging from 2026 through 2037. Under the terms of most aircraft leases, United has the right to purchase the aircraft at the end of the lease term, in some cases at fair market value, and in others, at a percentage of cost.
In addition, United also has 63 leases of Boeing 737 MAX, Boeing 787 and Airbus A321neo aircraft under various sale-leaseback transactions. These transactions did not qualify as a sale under the applicable accounting guidance, and, as such, the associated aircraft remain on the Company's consolidated balance sheet as part of Operating property and equipment, net. The related obligations are recorded in and . These aircraft leases have remaining lease terms of 7 years to 11 years with expiration dates ranging from 2032 through 2037.
Non-aircraft leases have remaining lease terms of 1 month to 32 years.
The table below summarizes the Company's scheduled future minimum lease payments under operating and finance leases, recorded on the balance sheet, as of December 31, 2025 (in millions):
| Operating Leases | Finance Leases | |||||||||||||
| 2026 | $ | 929 | $ | 101 | ||||||||||
| 2027 | 1,123 | 241 | ||||||||||||
| 2028 | 941 | 148 | ||||||||||||
| 2029 | 745 | 21 | ||||||||||||
| 2030 | 790 | 2 | ||||||||||||
| After 2030 | 3,642 | 2 | ||||||||||||
| Minimum lease payments | 8,170 | 516 | ||||||||||||
| Imputed interest | (2,121) | (42) | ||||||||||||
| Present value of minimum lease payments | 6,048 | 474 | ||||||||||||
| Less: current maturities of lease obligations | (631) | (96) | ||||||||||||
| Long-term lease obligations | $ | 5,417 | $ | 378 | ||||||||||
The table below presents the Company's future contractual lease payments at December 31, 2025 under then-outstanding sale and leaseback agreements that did not qualify as a sale under the applicable accounting guidance (in millions):
| Other Financial Liabilities | ||||||||
| 2026 | $ | 398 | ||||||
| 2027 | 563 | |||||||
| 2028 | 236 | |||||||
| 2029 | 235 | |||||||
| 2030 | 232 | |||||||
| After 2030 | 2,704 | |||||||
| 4,368 | ||||||||
| Imputed interest | (1,120) | |||||||
| Current maturities of other financial liabilities | (235) | |||||||
| Other financial liabilities | $ | 3,014 | ||||||
In November 2024, at the request of United, the City of Houston, Texas issued special facility revenue bonds in the par amount of approximately $1.1 billion (the "IAH SFRBs") to fund a portion of the costs of construction, reconfiguration and redevelopment of portions of Terminal B at George Bush Intercontinental Airport. The IAH SFRBs have interest rates ranging from 5.25% to 5.50% per annum, payable semiannually, commencing in July 2025 through the July 2039 maturity date of the IAH SFRBs. United is accounting for the lease payments related to these IAH SFRBs as an operating lease recognized as a right-of-use asset and lease liability on the Company's balance sheet.
As of December 31, 2025, we had entered into leases with rental obligations of approximately $6.6 billion for several mainline aircraft, regional aircraft under CPAs, airport facilities, including the lease associated with the IAH SFRBs described above, and office space, none of which had commenced as of such date. These leases will commence between 2026 and 2028 with lease terms of up to 28 years.
Our lease agreements do not provide a readily determinable implicit rate nor is it available to us from our lessors. Instead, we estimate United's incremental borrowing rate based on information available at lease commencement in order to discount lease payments to present value. The table below presents additional information related to our leases as of December 31:
| 2025 | 2024 | |||||||||||||
| Weighted-average remaining lease term - operating leases | 11 years | 11 years | ||||||||||||
| Weighted-average remaining lease term - finance leases | 2 years | 2 years | ||||||||||||
| Weighted-average remaining lease term - other financial liabilities | 9 years | 10 years | ||||||||||||
| Weighted-average discount rate - operating leases | 6.0 | % | 5.9 | % | ||||||||||
| Weighted-average discount rate - finance leases | 5.3 | % | 5.9 | % | ||||||||||
| Weighted-average interest rate - other financial liabilities | 5.8 | % | 5.3 | % | ||||||||||
The table below presents supplemental cash flow information related to leases during the years ended December 31 (in millions):
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | |||||||||||||||
| Cash paid for amounts included in the measurement of lease liabilities: | |||||||||||||||||
| Operating cash flows for operating leases | $ | 971 | $ | 851 | $ | 874 | |||||||||||
| Operating cash flows for finance leases | 15 | 15 | 21 | ||||||||||||||
| Financing cash flows for finance leases | 174 | 269 | 311 | ||||||||||||||
Historical Timeline
| Fiscal Year | Filed | |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Feb 12, 2026 | Showing above |
| 2024 | Feb 27, 2025 | |
| 2023 | Feb 29, 2024 | |
| 2022 | Feb 16, 2023 | |
| 2021 | Feb 18, 2022 | |
| 2020 | Mar 1, 2021 | |
| 2019 | Feb 25, 2020 | |
| 2018 | Feb 28, 2019 | |
| 2016 | Feb 23, 2017 | |
| 2015 | Feb 18, 2016 | |
About Leases Disclosures
Lease disclosures under ASC 842 provide a comprehensive view of a company's leased asset portfolio, including the split between operating and finance leases, discount rates used to present-value future payments, and the maturity schedule of lease obligations. This section reveals a significant source of off-balance-sheet commitments that were largely hidden before the current standard.
Key signals: the weighted-average discount rate affects the size of recorded lease liabilities — a higher rate reduces the reported obligation, so compare the chosen rate against the company's incremental borrowing rate. The operating versus finance lease mix affects both EBITDA and operating income presentation. Watch the maturity table for concentration risk: large payment cliffs in specific years may create cash flow pressure. Variable lease payments excluded from the liability measurement represent real obligations that do not appear on the balance sheet. Compare total lease costs against prior-year operating lease expense to assess the true economic burden.