United Airlines bears heavy financial burden
By James P. Miller. Tribune staff reporter John Schmeltzer and wire services contributed to this report
Published September 14, 2001
Even before the World Trade Center disaster, United Airlines parent UAL Corp. was facing significant profit problems. In the wake of this week's terrorist attacks, experts say UAL's woes, along with those of the entire airline industry, are sure to deepen.
Laboring beneath the twin burdens of an economic slowdown and rising fuel prices, UAL and its rivals have been under financial pressure for more than a year. Now, suggests UBS Warburg's veteran airlines analyst Samuel Buttrick, the industry's already shaky bottom line is about to take an additional cumulative $2.1 billion hit in the final four months of this year.
UAL, because of its high labor costs and other factors, appears likely to suffer a disproportionate amount of the pain the industry is undoubtedly about to endure...
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