Executives at other airlines savored the federal government's rejection of United Airlines' request for a loan guarantee on Wednesday night, after some of them had lobbied intensely against any bailout.
"At the end of the day, it's good for our industry, and it's good for the American people," Gordon M. Bethune, Continental Airlines' chief executive, said on Wednesday night, speaking of the rejection.
United's competitors are likely to steal some of the airline's passengers as it struggles to restore its finances and suffers through the distraction and publicity of a probable bankruptcy filing, industry analysts said. American Airlines, United's main rival in Chicago and one of its chief competitors in California, stands to benefit the most, analysts said.
But the biggest prize would be United's legal rights to fly overseas routes, which a judge could order the company to sell if it files for bankruptcy protection. The jewel in United's system is its extensive schedule of flights across the Pacific to Asia, much of it acquired in 1985 when United brought the rights to fly those routes from a struggling Pan American World Airways.
United's rivals sent their own financial analyses of the airline's condition to the Air Transportation Stabilization Board, the federal body created after the Sept. 11 attacks to help the industry. The executives argued that United's business was broken and that the US$1.8 billion in loan guarantees it sought would end up being wasted, ultimately to be paid by taxpayers.
Douglas M. Steenland, the president of Northwest Airlines, praised the board for doing "an incredible amount of work" and called its decision "the right one."
In the coming months, the loan rejection and even a bankruptcy filing is likely to lead to some cutbacks in service at United, which is based outside Chicago and has a major hub at Chicago's O'Hare Airport, but travelers should expect the airline to maintain most of its routes, travel agents argued. US Airways is already in bankruptcy protection, and Continental emerged from earlier bankruptcies to become one of the industry's stronger carriers, the agents noted.
"In the near term, it will mean nothing for travelers," said Hal F. Rosenbluth, the chairman of Rosenbluth International, a large travel agency based in Philadelphia. "The stigma of an airline bankruptcy has, for all intents and purposes, lost its negativity over the years."
Industry executives said they had expected the government board to reject United's request and were surprised only by its timing.
"I was a little surprised they didn't wait," said C. Thomas Nulty, president of Navigant International, a travel agency based in Denver. "But I guess they decided that even if it went United's way it wouldn't have made a difference."
United executives, while vowing to do everything they can to avoid bankruptcy, say that their rivals opposed the loan guarantee primarily so that they can benefit from the company's troubles.
United executives, while vowing to do everything they can to avoid bankruptcy, say that their rivals opposed the loan guarantee primarily so that they can benefit from the company's troubles.
J. Dennis Hastert, the Republican lawmaker from Illinois who is speaker of the House, "thought United presented a fair and balanced proposal to the board," according to Peter M. Jeffries, a spokesman.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique