United Airlines sees non-fuel costs down $800 million by year's end

(Reuters) - United Airlines said on Tuesday it expects non-fuel costs to be down by $800 million by the end of the year as it makes progress toward its goal of cutting the costs by $1 billion annually by 2017.

The Chicago-based carrier said the savings would come in part from outsourcing about 1,150 positions in airports across the country. United's non-fuel costs were already down by $380 million at the end of 2014.

The airline also reaffirmed its unit revenue outlook of being down 1 percent to up 1 percent year over year for the first quarter of 2015.

It expects $183 million in fuel hedge losses for the first quarter and $518 million in fuel hedge losses for the rest of 2015, based on Feb. 27 data. At the same time, it said that each $1 drop in the price of oil per barrel reduces its annual fuel expense by about $93 million.

The stock rose 1 percent to $67.50 in early trading.

(Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Jeffrey Benkoe)