United Airlines parent UAL Corp said it may seek bankruptcy protection later this year if the carrier can't cut costs and win a US loan guarantee to help pay US$875 million of debt due in the fourth quarter.
Paying the debt from reserves may leave the company with too little money for operations, UAL said in a filing with the US.
PHOTO: AP
Securities and Exchange Commission. The world's second-biggest carrier said it is revising its application for a US$1.8 billion loan guarantee to include more cost reductions and wants workers to agree to participate in the next 30 days.
Losses mounted at UAL and rivals after the Sept. 11 attacks, prompting US Airways Group Inc to seek bankruptcy protection Sunday and AMR Corp's American Airlines to say yesterday it will cut 7,000 more jobs. Chief Executive Officer Jack Creighton told workers this week that UAL's loan application has been coolly received in Washington and that bigger concessions are needed.
"Unless we lower our costs dramatically, filing for bankruptcy protection will be the only way we can ensure the company's future and the continued operation of our airline," Creighton said in a statement today.
UAL fell US$0.68 to US$2.06 at 6:06pm in off-exchange trading after the New York Stock Exchange closed, the lowest price since at least August 1980. Shares fell US$0.29, or 11 percent, to US$2.45 in NYSE composite trading at 4:19pm. The stock has dropped 92 percent since Sept. 10.
"Part of what this is intended to do is to get the pilots and the mechanics to start focusing on how serious this situation is," said Jon Ash, managing director of Global Aviation Associates, a Washington airline-consulting firm. "Given what US Air is doing, what American has announced -- maybe that all is creating a wake-up call."
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
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China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
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