Search this site
Matching entries from Houston's Clear Thinkers
Continental's big news
The big news story today in Houston is the announcement about Continental Airlines engaging in merger negotiations with Chicago-based United Airlines. Here are the stories from the Wall Street Journal ($), the NY Times, the Financial Times and the Houston...
Is United Airlines bailing out on Chicago?
Long-suffering United Airlines' first quarter of operations after emergence from its three-year hike through chapter 11 was not particularly impressive. The Chicago-based carrier reported a loss of $306 million (excluding a one-time, emergence-from-chapter 11 accounting gain) that compared with a...
Flying the friendly chapter 11 skies of United
After wallowing over three years in chapter 11, United Airlines parent UAL Corp. finally emerged from bankruptcy this past Friday (previous posts here) amidst the usual wave of optimism that greets such achievements. Recent trading in bankruptcy claims and UAL's...
While UAL lurches to chapter 11 exit, Independence Air tanks
Overall, the U.S. airline industry improved a bit last week as United Airlines parent UAL Corp. announced that it received creditor approval of its chapter 11 plan to emerge from bankruptcy next month as low-cost airline Independence Air announced its...
Another one bites the dust
Flyi Inc., which spun off a year ago into the low-fare independent airline called "Independence Air" after beginning as a contract carrier for United Airlines and Delta Air Lines Inc., filed a chapter 11 case early Monday morning, joining a...
The federal government's increasing equity stake in public companies
This Wall Street Journal ($) article picks up on a subject that I have previously addressed in regard to the legacy airline bankruptcies -- that is, the federal government's increasing equity stake in public companies resulting from the conversion of...
United Airlines finalizes chapter 11 exit financing
Following on this earlier post, UAL Corp., the parent of United Airlines, announced that it has finalized $3 billion in debt financing commitments from Citigroup Inc. and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. that will allow the company to exit its...
Delta and Northwest tank
As anticipated here earlier this week, Delta Air Lines commenced its inevitable chapter 11 reorganization case yesterday and was joined by fellow legacy carrier Northwest Airlines. Both chapter 11 cases were filed in New York City, which has become the...
United Airlines files its Disclosure Statement
United Airlines parent UAL Corp. filed its Disclosure Statement yesterday in its longstanding chapter 11 case in Chicago and it was not a pretty sight. United was the second major airline to seek bankruptcy court protection during the current downturn...
United Airlines continues to flounder in chapter 11
In a move that almost certainly means that its bankruptcy case filed in December, 2002 will extend well into 2006, United Airlines parent UAL Corp. announced Tuesday that it was delaying the filing its plan of reorganization with the U.S....
Is Bethune going after United?
This Houston Business Journal article is reporting that former Continental Airlines CEO Gordon Bethune is leading one of the investor consortiums that the United Airlines' Creditors' Committee is touting as one of the groups that is interested in investing in...
United Airlines takes another blow
As United Airlines continues to flounder in its nearly two and a half year old chapter 11 case amidst union strike threats and troubling pension obligations, an even bigger problem is emerging -- that is, keeping its jetliners. As noted...
It's hard to pull the plug on an airline
As noted in previous posts here, here, here, here and here, it is extremely difficult to liquidate even an insolvent airline. Rather, such companies seem to go out to pasture in chapter 11 for an indefinite period until creditors approve...
U.S. Airways to marry America West?
The airline business is all atwitter today with the news that US Airways, which has been wallowing in a chapter 22 (i.e., it's second chapter 11 case) since September of last year, is considering a merger with America West to...
Attempting to cure the PBGC blues
This earlier post noted the growing concern in the business community that the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation -- the quasi-governmental insurer of private company pensions -- is facing a string of large company bankruptcies and pension defaults that could lead...
Put US Airways out of its misery
The airline industry in the United States is beset with an oversupply of airlines, a number of which have been wallowing in chapter 11 while unsecured creditors try to come to terms with the fact that their claims will never...
UAL wins key concession
The Air Line Pilots Association agreed yesterday not to oppose United Airlines parent UAL Corp.'s effort to terminate the group's generous defined-benefit pension plan in return for UAL's agreement to issue to the union $550 million in convertible notes that...
Southwest Airlines attempts to expand Chicago operation
You gotta love Southwest Airlines, Inc. While most of the legacy airlines are trying to figure out either how to avoid bankruptcy or find financing to exit bankruptcy, Dallas-based Southwest just continues to execute its methodical business plan of expanding...
UAL, we have a big problem
Most of news over the past two years about the United Airlines chapter 11 case has focused on the legacy airlines operating losses, its unfunded pension obligations, and its need to overhaul or reject its collective bargaining agreements. Here is...
United finally seeks to reject CBA's
Two years into its aimless chapter 11 case, UAL Corp. finally requested that the Bankruptcy Court allow it to reject its existing labor contracts with six unions if the company cannot reach consensual agreements on modifications to the contracts by...
Analyzing airline woes
The Wall Street Journal's Holman Jenkins, Jr.'s Business World ($) column today addresses the mess that is the American airline industry, and notes that this is not a problem that has just arisen recently: Today's crisis is not materially different...
US Air tanks
As expected, US Airways Group Inc. filed its chapter 22 case (i.e., chapter 11 for the second time) in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Alexandria, Virginia. US Air's previous case concluded a little over two years ago. Like its larger...
PGBC objects to United's financing plan
The federal Pension Guaranty Benefit Corporation, the quasi-governmental pension insurer, challenged the key portion of United Airline's new debtor-in-possession financing arrangement in United's Bankruptcy Court on Friday by asserting that the agreement violates federal-pension law by forbidding the company from...
Union requests a trustee in United chapter 11 case
Labor relations at UAL Corp.'s United Airlines hit a new low yesterday as United's the International Association of Machinists union asked the bankruptcy judge overseeing the carrier's chapter 11 case to appoint a trustee to operate the company. Still fuming...
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation blues
Following this earlier post regarding United Airlines' decision to default on its obligations to its employees' pension plans to attract capital to fund its chapter 11 reorganization plan, this NY Times article reports on some experts' concern that the Federal...
United busts pension plan payment
United Airlines announced today it would not contribute to employee pension plans while it remains in Chapter 11. This is the first in a number of bold moves that Chicago-based United must take in order to save the struggling airline...
United, this is getting monotonous
The federal Air Transportation Stabilization Board announced today that it was not going to change its its June 17 decision to deny United Airlines government backing for a government credit enhancement that was the central component of United's reorganization plan...
United revises bid for federal financing
As noted in this earlier post, the federal Air Transportation Stabilization Board announced last week that it had rejected Chicago-based United Airlines' application for a $1.6 billion federal loan guarantee, which was the foundation of United's reorganization plan to emerge...
United goes back to the drawing board
The federal Air Transportation Stabilization Board announced on Thursday that it has rejected Chicago-based United Airlines' application for a $1.6 billion federal loan guarantee, which is the foundation of the second largest U.S. airline's current reorganization plan to emerge from...
United Airlines - should the federal government save it?
This NY Times article gives a good overview on the state of United Airlines, which continue to flounder in a chapter 11 case filed in December 2002. As the story relates, United's emergence from chapter 11 is based upon the...
UAL bankruptcy - Will it ever end?
This NY Times article and this WSJ ($) article report on the postponement of confirmation and consummation of United Airlines' reorganization plan in its long pending chapter 11 case. UAL has been operating under chapter 11 since December, 2002, and...
Feed Subscription
If you use an RSS reader, you can subscribe to a feed of all future entries matching 'United Airlines chapter 11'. [What is this?]
