Corporate travel in the first few weeks of January saw a “nice step up,” according to Andrew Nocella, chief commercial officer for United Airlines, speaking on a fourth-quarter earnings call. He said the increase was the result of a new budget season for big-budget clients.

The corporate travel uptick, said Nocella, is one of the reasons the carrier’s domestic revenue per available seat mile for the first quarter “is as strong as it is.” He said there are “increasing signs” that this is going to be a very good year for corporate travel.

The carrier is also forecasting a per-share loss of between 35 cents and 85 cents for the first quarter, mainly due to the grounding of its Boeing Max 737-9 fleet of 79 planes following the Alaska Airlines door-plug incident.

The airline reported fourth-quarter revenue of $13.6 billion, a 9.9% increase year over year. Full-year 2023 revenue was up 19.5% over 2022 to $53.7 billion. Passenger revenue for the fourth quarter was up 10.9% to $12.4 billion and increased 22.5% for the year to more than $49 billion. Domestic passenger revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% year over year to nearly $7.7 billion. International passenger revenue for the period was up 18% to more than $4.7 billion. United served nearly 41.8 million passengers during the fourth quarter, up 9.2% year over year.