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What Else Is United Selling? Raising Cash

Schwanker

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http://www.westauction.com/show_multiple_o...General_ID=9637



UNITED AIRLINES Ground Support Equipment
Surplus to ongoing operations.

No minimum bids! No reserve prices!

Featured items: cargo loaders, buses, tanker trucks, maintenance vehicles, belt loaders, large forklifts, tractors, new engines, baggage carts and much more!

Five Day Auction

October 13 - 17, 2003

Online Bidding Begins:
October 13th at 12:00 AM PDT
Online Bidding Ends:
Each day at or after 2:00 PM PDT
(See the individual item and lot number for actual closing time during the auction)
 
I'm not sure what else is for sale, but it seems very smart to sell anything that's surplus. Kinda like having a garage sale to get rid of the junk you don't need or haven't used in years.

IMHO, UA has been very systematic in restructuring, working from the big stuff (Labor contracts and leases) down to the little stuff (un-used assets and surplus equipment). I see this recent trend as a sign that we are in the final phase of cleaning house. Aside from few big issues, such as pension legislation, whose time table UA has little control over, I think the company is close to having it's ducks in a row.
 
I agree jetz.

In terms of pension - the legislative and IRS options are incertain at best. But, let's not forget UA has Dennis Hastert speaker of the house behind UA.

I know he was PISSED when UA didn't get the loan (although I'm not disputing the rejection).

So hopefully he's still trying to make things happen.
 
flythewing said:
So, the most they could get for a functional BUS was around $750???
Obviously you haven't seen the condition of some of our buses! 😛
 
Those goofy buses. I'm getting one and painting it like the Partridge Family Bus. Gonna throw my kids in the back and drive around town singing, "Doesn't Matter if we're in bk, Come on get happy!"

partidgecoverl.jpg
 
FOr $500, I could have found 50 employees at ORD to chip in, and have a stand by available. Who says OPB should have the only spares?
 
flythewing said:
FOr $500, I could have found 50 employees at ORD to chip in, and have a stand by available. Who says OPB should have the only spares?
In the future, please use the word "contribute."

PLEASE... anything but chip! 😀 😀 😀
 
767jetz said:
In the future, please use the word "contribute."

PLEASE... anything but chip! 😀 😀 😀
Hmmm... ok.

I seriously doubt that "flythewing" is becoming a "contribute" off the old block of "you-know-who".

Last weekend I sank a 50 foot downhill "contribute" shot on the 17th. (lie)

My favorite potato "contribute" is made by Cape Cod "Contributes". (true)

I prefer computers with Intel "contributes".

All this political correctness is leaving me with a contribute on my shoulder. 🙄
 
You're a real "contribute" off the 'ole block!

LOL 😀

P.S. I laughed so hard, I fell off my chair and almost "contributed" my front tooth.
 
PineyBob said:
Any way you spin it, selling of assets to raise cash to help keep the doors open is not a good sign.
Sorry, but that statement is a stretch. Who said UA is selling assets to "keep the doors open" anyway? It is a huge leap to go from the house cleaning of selling unused junk, to selling worthwhile assets ala TWA and Pan Am. Care to fill in the gap with some facts?

If UA were selling things out of desperation to keep the doors open, as you imply, why would they sell only 2 takeoff and landing slots and take 2 less expensive ones plus some cash in return? Why sell only the oldest 767's that were destined to be parked anyway?

I agree that selling REAL assets would not be a good sign if that was what were happening. But it's not. Selling a couple of slots and some old airplanes with numbered days is not an asset sale. Now if UA ever put LHR or the Pacific up for sale you can come back and talk to me about it. Until then why not give the spin a rest.

I know USAir supporters, and the rest of the industry for that matter, would love to see UA shrivel up and die for their own preservation. Unfortunately for them, we will continue to disappoint. In the end it will be our competition who is scrambling to compete with the restructured United Airlines.
 
I agree with you 767jetz. A garage sale is a garage sale. You get ride of that which is old and unwanted. I just did this kind of transaction when I moved from an apartment into a house. I decided that since I was moving up in the world, and needed some cash to buy my new things, I would sell the old to make room for the new. This gave me the capital to put in beautiful olive wood floors, designer lighting from Italy, and not to leave out a brand new kitchen. This was achieved through the sales of the old and unwanted.

767jetz writes;

I know USAir supporters, and the rest of the industry for that matter, would love to see UA shrivel up and die for their own preservation. Unfortunately for them, we will continue to disappoint. In the end it will be our competition that is scrambling to compete with the restructured United Airlines.

Just had a talk with someone I know in management. They did mention that due to our restructuring that the other carriers (besides the SWest’s) would be scrambling to stay out of BK. That the other majors without going into BK, would not be able to attain the cost structure and savings that UA has achieved. Sure they could renegotiate labor contracts, but they would not be able to negotiate lease agreements, vendor contracts, and airport rents. Without these added savings, the other carriers will be left behind. So far to this date, UA has shaved off of the top a whopping 5b$ a year of its cost structure. Did UA ever loose 5b$ in a year, and if so, have they lost that in the last year?

My personal comments;

If anyone wants to put this whole thing into perspective, relate what UA is going through to what each and every individual in the world is going through. What you the reader of this paragraph might be going through.

1) Think about the way we do our taxes at the end of the year. Isn't it everyone’s goal to get the best return? If you say no to this one, then you are lying.

2) We sell what use to be precious nik naks at garage sales, in the newspapers, or via Ebay. Out with the old, and in with the new.

3) The water bottle company we switch from, because we found a better deal or that it is simply cheaper to buy it in the store.

4) The phone company that offers a flat rate for internet access, verses one that charges you by the hour.

5) We refinance our apartments, condos, and homes in order to attain better mortgage rates.

6) We work our way out of expensive lease agreements, in order to drive around in new cars that have better finance rates.

7) We Transfer our credit card balances from high interest rates, to Credit Card Company’s that offer lower ones. My personal favorite is the ones that offer 6 months with no interest.

NOW TAKE THIS TO A GRAND SCALE, and there you have it.

If UA was not doing anything at all, then I would question the leadership of this company and I too would be painting a more doom and gloom picture of UA. The fact that the opposite is true, I therefore would have to disagree with all the nigh Sayers out there. Take it from a guy that used to be homeless. Survival is of the fittest.
 
Landing Slots at LHR is not house cleaning or selling junk.

Selling computer reservation systems to your competition is not house cleaning or selling junk.
 
I have to agree with Piney Bob. No mattetr how you slice it, selling assets is not good. Sure we are not selling NRT or all of LHR. But these are still assets being sold to raise cash, plain and simple.

jetz no one is saying that UAL is selling assets to "keep the doors open." However we may be about to start busting the DIP covenants during this coming winter, and if the DIP lenders say "Jump!" ("Sell something to raise cash!") our only response can be "How high?" ("How much?"). This could be the first sign of that.

What "facts" do you need? Getting rid of prime LHR slots (you can call it trading; I would argue trading good slots for some lousy slots plus cash, at the LHR goldmine, is for all intents and purposes is "getting rid of!") means we cannot figure out how to use the slots profitably and are losing money. We are indeed selling off a piece of LHR. Selling relatively new 747s is-- pure and simple-- selling assets. Selling part the Orbitz stake may not be a big deal but it would be interesting to know if we are really doing it because it represents a strategic shift in business strategy; or does it simply mean we need cash. The only thing that doesn't worry me is the 767-200 sale as that fleet has been planned to be phased out for a long time-- before 9/11, I think. I mean, who would want to be flying rattle-trap old 767-200s around anymore-- especially internationally? How tacky. 😛

Anyway, the test I would use to see if this is really a bad thing or not is, if things were peachy right now as opposed to being in Ch.11, would we be selling these things? Probably not. Hopefully they are just plainly and simply unused assets that UA has decided we just don't want or need anymore. But it is starting to seem like some people are getting desperate to rationalize something ibviously bad into a good thing.
 
I am a US Airways employee and I do not wish UAL to wither away and die, I hope your company survives and lets its workers earn a good living.
 

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