Until recently, when misinformation wa passed on the UA board, the only time I talked about UA was when I introduced a thread. But the UA employees seem to feel the need to come to the US board to discuss their carrier in a US thread.
Interesting...
B737nCH11's comments are clearly wrong and do not reflect the sentiment of US management or Wall Street. US will have a static mainline fleet of 279 aircraft and will use RJs to grow traffic, replace turboprops, and add long-thin markets. In fact, US senior vice president of consumer affairs Chris Chiames told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Reveiw yesterday "Should a hub remain at Pittsburgh, we see the mainline operations being about what it is today, but growth in the operation being from regional jets." It's clear B737 is tired of hearing all of the negative news surrounding UA and if I was in his shoes I'm sure I would feel the same way, but UA may does not have the money to operate in the fall or an investor willing to provide the airline with liquidity yet, therefore, their opportunity ot acquire another airline's assets are slim to none.
Meanwhile, yesterday UA had another Omnibus Hearing and chief financial officer Jake Brace made a number of comments underlined by 767jetz:
767 said: Brace said United, based in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, is holding "preliminary talks" with the Air Transportation Stabilization Board about securing exit financing through a loan guarantee.
Chip comments: This is not new because the airline said its POR would be based on obtaining the loan guarantee. My question is what happens if the ATSB rejects UA again?
767jetz said: Brace declined to comment on whether United was interested in a private equity investment in the airline. But he said: "A lot of people have expressed interest in investing in us."
Chip comments: There are rumors Marvin Davis, TPG, and Carl Icahn are interested in investing in UA. It's to early to tell what will happen because many people are waiting to see UA's results on August 1 and if the company can meets its stringent DIP financing agreements.
Chip concludes: The issue is that in US' in-court restructuring, US had exit financing, conditional loan guarantee approval, and an equity plan sponsor before it entered bankruptcy. However, after nearly 8 months UA has none of this financing in place. However, the major UA issue is what will happen to the DIP financing in a couple of months. This week's industry earnings news and conference calls solidified my thoughts of how poor the fall travel season will be when UA must be cash flow positive. Furthermore, what will happen to UA's pension and if somebody like Carl Icahn comes out of the woods and obtains court approval to buy the airline? Regardless, what else would Jake Brace say to reporters, we're going ot fail and tell people to not book on our airline?
Best regards,
Chip