Gilbertguy:
When has an airline in bankruptcy ever bought another company or its assets?
United is having difficulty finding an Equity Plan Sponsor, they have no exit financing, they have not submitted a Plan of Reorganization (POR), they violated the 180-day court POR submission requirement and had to seek an extension), their pensions are underfunded by a whopping $7.5 billion, the Bush Administration is fighting pension legislative relief, and their business plan is generic and some observers believe it has more wholes in it than a piece of Swiss cheese.
Moreover, reports indicate their emergence is dependent upon obtaining a loan guarantee that will be necessary to repay the DIP financing. For example, if the company seeks another loan guarantee for $1.8 billion, they must repay up to $1.5 billion in DIP financing, leaving just $300 million in secured loan guarantee funds.
United is still likely losing money and September bookings are weak, according to the ATA, for the entire industry due post Labor Day seasonal travel decline and passenger fear associated with the September 11 anniversary. In October, United must be cash flow positive or it will violate its DIP financing covenants where the lenders could repossess their assets, although that would appear unlikely given the state of the used aircraft market.
US Airways ended the first quarter with $1.86 billion in liquidity and received a $216 million one-time federal bailout on May 16, which increased liquidity to $2.076 billion +/- the Q2 earnings, therefore, US Airways is hardly in a cash crisis and controls its own destiny versus United, who requires unsecured creditors committee and bankruptcy court approval for any financial transaction.
As N230UA said, "Chip, your writing style, rhetoric, and online persona is being mocked. In fact, 737nCh11 has mimicked your post format to the T," which I believe was 737nCH11's intent versus writing anything of substance.
On another note, I find it interesting that NW filed a shelf registration statement with the SEC for $2.5 billion, which the company said would be used for general corporate purposes.
Best regards,
Chip