The unions at United will moan and groan and posture until about March 15. Then the judge will impose drastically reduced pay rates and work rules. Starfish will be created with a separate seniority list and even lower pay scale.
Still, it may be too late to avoid a shutdown as the Fortune article speculates.
My friends over at UAL were still in denial until quite recently. They assured me that there was no way that the ATSB could deny the loan, that United was just too big to fail. Why, three years ago they were the world's largest, most profitable airline. As always happens, the fingerpointing will continue long after the company is gone.
Tilton has been in the airline business since September, maybe he can pull a rabbit out of a hat, maybe not...