During Q3, the company burned through more than $2.4 million a day, ending with $757 million in unrestricted cash. That is $70 better than management predicted to Judge Mitchell during the S.1113(e) hearing when they told the Court US Airways would have only $687 million in available cash on Oct. 1.
US Airways' business plan anticipates oil at $44 per barrel an during the past two days there has been a $5 per barrel drop in price from Wednesday's NYMEX high for NYMEX West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil Futures.
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Each $1 decrease in the price of crude oil per barrel decreases US Airways' fuel expense by $2 million per month.
Meanwhile, US Airways will realize additional savings obtained from the incremental changes to the ALPA and TWU contracts, as well as other savings could be obtained from long-term deals negotiated with the AFA, IAM, & CWA.
Cosmo & Borescope, in regard to your company, United, tonight the Financial Times reported, United also warned it was poised to breach the terms of its financing in the next quarter. “There is a strong possibility that we will not be able to comply with the club facility’s ebitdar [earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and rent] covenant in the fourth quarter.
“Failure to comply with the ebitdar covenant would constitute a default. We are currently in discussions with the club facility lenders regarding this situation,†it said.
The potential covenant breach comes within a few months of having negotiated the new financing, reinforcing the speed at which fuel prices and the continued weak revenue environment have eroded balance sheets in the industry. United said its fuel costs had jumped by $291m in the quarter, up 57 per cent.
Although United is taking more aggressive action now to come up with a new business plan, cutting costs and capacity, the warning bears out criticism that the airline has been too slow to address its problems during bankruptcy.
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Separately, the AP reported "Even though our unit revenue performance was on par with our peers, the pricing environment prohibits us from recouping high fuel costs," said chief financial officer Jake Brace. "Given the urgency of United's situation and the stark financial reality in the entire industry, United believes that it will have no choice but to seek significant additional labor savings beyond terminating and replacing our pension plans."
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Cosmo & Borescope, if either airline fails it will lose about $200 million per year in code share revenue, which could be lethal for either airline, thus your glee at US Airways problems may be short sighted.
Regards,
USA320Pilot