US Airways May Seek to Return More Airplanes, CEO Siegel Says
Washington, Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) -- US Airways Group Inc. may seek bankruptcy court permission to return more airplanes to creditors unless the seventh-largest U.S. carrier can renew leases at reasonable rates, Chief Executive Officer David Siegel said.
We said we''re not going to pay any above-market rates for leases anymore, Siegel said in a speech. The world has changed and paying $300,000 a month for a 15-year-old 737 just isn''t going to happen.
US Airways filed for bankruptcy protection last month and has gained approval from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to reject leases on 67 planes, mainly older Boeing Co. aircraft. The Arlington, Virginia-based carrier has sought permission to reject leases on another 22 planes to bring its fleet to 279 aircraft.
Separately, the carrier has been negotiating with lessors of other planes as part of an effort to cut $1.2 billion in annual costs through worker, vender and creditor concessions.
There are several hundred aircraft in the desert that meet our specifications, so if need be we''ll hand them all back and go to the desert and pick up new ones,[?b] Siegel said in a speech to the International Aviation Club, an aviation industry group, in Washington.
The carrier has an obligation to workers through recently negotiated contracts not to reduce the size of the fleet below 245 aircraft. Yesterday the company said in a bulletin to workers that while we have the ability to reduce the fleet to 245, we are working hard to make 279 work.