The parent of United Airlines reported a money-losing quarter on Tuesday that doesn't look so bad for an airline.

UAL Corp. lost $57 million and revenue fell 20 percent to $4.43 billion. But the loss was smaller than analysts expected, and the revenue drop-off was less than in the second quarter.

The recession has hurt business travel at all the big airlines. United said it believes that cost controls could mean better per-passenger revenue once business travel improves.

United reduced flying by 8.2 percent compared to the same period last year. It managed to cut costs at the same time, though, with spending for each mile it flew dropping 1.6 percent, not counting fuel and some accounting charges.

Passengers paid an average of $13 each in charges for checked baggage, better coach seats, and faster trips through boarding for a total of $289 million in fees, United said. The per-passenger average rose almost 13 percent compared to a year earlier.

The third-quarter loss was much smaller than the $792 million loss during the same period last year. That loss was driven by accounting for fuel hedges.

United ended the quarter with $2.5 billion in unrestricted cash. It raised money with debt and a stock offering earlier this month, after the quarter ended.

United is still working through fuel hedges put in place last year when it thought fuel prices would keep rising. It reported losing $131 million on settled fuel hedges in the third quarter, although it also had a $59 million gain on hedges that haven't settled yet.

United said in June that it would take bids from Boeing and Airbus for replacing some of its biggest planes. On Tuesday, it said it is evaluating those proposals, and that it expects "to make a decision soon on whether to pursue a potential order."

UAL shares rose 49 cents, or 6.8 percent, to $7.75 in premarket trading. The stocks has more than doubled in the last three months, peaking at $9.40 last month.

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