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 competitors, US Air continues to be hammered by high fuel prices, competition from discount carriers, anemic revenue and a heavy burden of debt and operating-lease commitments. With the filing, two of the nation’s six “legacy” carriers — those whose costs and cultures are rooted in the pre-deregulation era — now wallow in bankruptcy, although a number of other legacies could end up in the same court. The other legacy already in bankruptcy is UAL Corp.’s United Airlines, and Delta Air Lines is struggling to avoid the similar fate.
US Airways will maintain normal operations and honor all customer-service agreements and marketing arrangements with other carriers. US Airways’ current schedule consists of nearly 3,300 daily flights in about 180 airports in the U.S., Europe and the Caribbean.
The company’s theory of the case in its reorganization is to propose a reorganization plan by year-end that will transform the legacy carrier into a discount airline. Traditional labor and regulatory agencies will undoubtedly oppose the old-line, hub-and-spoke carrier attempting to shed its rigid work rules, inefficient work practices and richer benefits to make the transformation to a discount airline. If that occurs, then US Air may be forced into a liquidation under the weight of its massive debt obligations and lack of profitable operations, although previous legacy airline reorganizations indicate that such a liquidation will not come without creditors enduring even more losses during the reorganization case.
Another big complication in US Air’s reorganization is financing. Unlike the usual big reorganization, US Air did not file an emergency debtor-in-possession financing motion on Sunday to bolster its cash position. Because all of its assets are already pledged, the company did not even try to arrange such interim financing. However, US Air did disclose that it had reached an agreement with its lenders to give the airline access to an undisclosed portion of $750 million of cash it has on hand to use as working capital in lieu of a debtor-in-possession financing. The company said it currently has $1.45 billion in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments.
The US Air filing gave Democratic Presidential nominee John Kerry an opportunity to comment intelligently on a business policy issue, and his campaign screwed the pooch on that opportunity. Check out the following gibberish:

“It is a tragedy that the employees of US Airways, who have already made great sacrifices to help the company stay afloat, will now suffer more harm. And it’s unforgivable that the Bush administration has sat on the sidelines rather than act to address this crisis.”

The Kerry Campaign failed to mention that the Bush administration authorized the dubious post-September 11, 2001 federal loan-guarantee program that was supposed to help the ailing airline industry, but really just delayed the inevitable in regard to such carriers as US Air. As for the real reason behind the Kerry Campaign’s above statement — US Air employs thousands in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania.