US Airways files for bankrupcy

[ORAC]

CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2002/TRAVEL/NEWS/08/11/usairways.bankruptcy/index.html)

August 11, 2002 Posted: 5:54 PM EDT (2154 GMT)

By Patty Davis
CNN Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- US Airways filed for bankruptcy Sunday afternoon, the first major airline to do so since September 11.

[ive348]

I guess we all saw that one comming. They were hit hardest after 9/11 and were already in difficulty before, so not much of a surprise there. I feel sorry for all those involved.

[Iain]

Texas Pacific Group has entered into a memorandum of understanding to provide a $200 million investment in the new equity of US Airways upon its emergence from Chapter 11 protection.

Additionally US Airways has secured commitments for $500 million in debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing from a group of institutions led by Credit Suisse First Boston and Bank of America Corp., with participation from Texas Pacific Group, among others.

[TowerDog]

Amen:

Been through that before: When Tower Air filed for chapter 11 and promised re-organization and a leaner and meaner come-back, some of us belived it.
(But the stock prices and the investors confindence went deep South)

So did the Eastern employees, and the Pan-Am employees, and the Midway Airline employees, etc, etc.

RIP US Airways..... :(

[penguin]

May be UAL is next. :eek: Then they will let UAL and US Air merge. :rolleyes:

[Iain]

>>Been through that before: When Tower Air filed for chapter 11 and promised re-organization and a leaner and meaner come-back, some of us belived it.<<

Not sure if you can compare Tower and US Airways, heck one of Towers payables was Victoria Secret!! :o :o :o :o :o

[PaperTiger]

penguin, I have a cunning plan......;)

[TowerDog]

Iain:

Not sure what ya are talking about.
Victorias Secret..?

If it feels good, keep doing it..:rolleyes:

[SaturnV]

more details.

US Airways Files for Bankruptcy

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 7:56 p.m. ET

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) -- US Airways, hard hit by slumping travel after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Sunday, the company said.

The first major carrier to declare bankruptcy since the attacks, US Airways said all of its flights are expected to continue without interruption. It had mentioned bankruptcy as a possibility after it lost $2.1 billion during 2001.

Although US Airways didn't lose any planes Sept. 11, its business was severely hurt when Reagan National Airport, the airline's main hub, was shut down for three weeks and then reopened with only a limited schedule.

The Arlington, Va.-based airline said it has received $500 million in private financing to keep operating while it reorganizes.

"US Airways will continue to operate while we complete our financial restructuring, and our customers should be confident that we will continue service to the more than 200 communities in our network,'' said US Airways president and chief executive David Siegel. He said the airline will seek a return to profitability and could emerge from bankruptcy by the first quarter of 2003.

The airline, the nation's seventh-largest and the 14th largest in the world, listed $7.81 billion in assets and $7.83 billion in liabilities in its petition, filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The court scheduled a hearing for Monday.

US Airways has been trying to wring $950 million in cost cuts from its 40,000 employees as part of a restructuring plan that was designed to stave off bankruptcy. Last week, it reached agreements with unions representing its pilots and flight attendants that called for wage and benefits cuts in order to keep
the airline operating.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers said it would submit the company's proposal to a vote.

"Our members will not give up on US Airways, and neither should anyone else,'' Robert Roach Jr., general vice president of the union said after the bankruptcy filing. "We believe US Airways can successfully restructure while it continues to serve the traveling public and provide employment for our members.''

The airline said its interim financing will come from a group led by Credit Suisse First Boston and Bank of America Corp., with participation from Texas Pacific Group, which has agreed to provide $200 million in equity when the carrier emerges from bankruptcy.

Richard P. Schifter, a partner with Texas Pacific Group, said the financiers were impressed with US Airways' restructuring plan.

"Given the progress made to date, the time required in Chapter 11 to complete the restructuring should be relatively brief,'' Schifter said.

The federal government has also agreed to guarantee $900 million of a conditional $1 billion loan as a part of a major bailout by the federal Air Transport Stabilization Board, which US Airways will receive when it emerges from bankruptcy.

US Airways Group Inc., which owns 340 jets, last year carried 56 million passengers to 200 destinations in the United States, Canada, Mexico, The Caribbean and Europe.

The much smaller Vanguard Airlines filed for bankruptcy last month, citing similar problems after Sept. 11. The federal Air Transportation Stabilization Board also rejected the airline's request for an $8 million loan guarantee.

[Ignition Override]

I was sorry to read about the Chap 11 filing.

Considering how much USAirways' traffic goes through Wash. National Airport (DCA), and how long the airport remained closed last fall, maybe the government (I don't work for USAirways) should have given the airline a large chunk of money as a gift. The airline was partly crippled by the fact that our govt allowed such a small airport with short runways to operate for so many decades after it had passed its prime, in order for our govt reps to be able to avoid flying out of Wash Dulles or Baltimore, and then USAirways admittedly risked its future and invested so much money in their operation at this prime location with a fairly new terminal which must have cost them many megabucks (all for the convenience of regular civilian and govt passengers in the "heart of the action").

How ironic would it be if more govt inter-agency coordination (maybe via more federal funding for intel. and counter-intell. activities) could have prevented the Sept 11 attacks, as many agency employee saved lots of time by flying on USAirways through this hub? As our panicked government required months to figure out how to re-open DCA, the financial losses were devastating to the airline, from what I've read in other sources. Any airport gate which boards passengers on flights to DCA now resembles Checkpoint Charlie a bit, as it looked years ago in West Berlin when I walked through it).

Therefore, in my opinion, our govt should already have given the airline a huge cash gift (i.e. many millions), with no payback required, and maybe they could have avoided Chap 11 reorganization. Bankruptcy is a different concept in this country, compared to many others. USAirways was apparently seriously damaged by the "Wolfbite" and the "Gangb**g" ; both former 'leaders', and I use the term very loosely in this case, admitted that there was "no plan B" if the United buyout failed to happen. Maybe such a gift appears unjustifiable by other folks, but look at the benefit to travelers at such a prime location, which was an important hub for the company and quite accessible by thousands of our federal government personnel.

Good luck USAirways: if some portions are sold off, there had better be a normal proportion of employee jobs transferred with the assets, including routes.

[crewrest]

..amazing and after all the cash the US Government dished out to the US airlines..

[Airbubba]

>>May be UAL is next. Then they will let UAL and US Air merge.<<

UAL is close to filing according to this Wall Street Journal report:


US Airways Group, Hit Hard
By Terror, Files for Chapter 11

United Airlines Could Be Next,
As Bid for Federal Aid Hits Snag

By SUSAN CAREY
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL


US Airways Group, carrying too much debt and too few passengers, filed for bankruptcy-court protection, the first big airline to do so since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The move by the U.S.'s seventh-largest airline, one of the hardest-hit by the travel slowdown after the attacks, shields the carrier from its creditors as it works to cut costs and fend off new competition in its East Coast base. The airline could soon be followed into bankruptcy court by the nation's No. 2 carrier, financially strapped United Airlines, a unit of UAL Corp. United's quest for a $1.8 billion federal loan guarantee -- crucial to its ability to raise fresh capital -- is encountering resistance both from federal regulators and competitors.

The industry's problems began months before Sept. 11, as the slowing economy and high labor costs negotiated during the boom years of the late 1990s pinched profits. Eleven months after Sept. 11, every major U.S. carrier except Southwest Airlines continues to lose money, despite steep cuts in capacity and layoffs of thousands of workers. Across the industry, revenue is down precipitously, a combination of fewer passengers and depressed fares.

The U.S. government created the Air Transportation Stabilization Board to hand out $5 billion in cash to make up for losses directly tied to the terrorist attacks. The board also has the authority to dole out up to $10 billion in loan guarantees to help carriers that lack reasonable access to credit because of Sept. 11 fallout.

But the government bailout has had little success in pushing the industry to address its fundamental problem of high costs. In an industry that plays follow-the-leader in setting fares and compensation levels, the US Airways bankruptcy-court filing will win applause from competitors for the message that it sends: that operating costs must decline, by court order if necessary. The filing, in federal court in Alexandria, Va., won't affect US Airways' operations; fliers typically don't even notice when a major carrier enters Chapter 11.

The action will significantly sharpen the airline's edge in its months-long efforts to win concessions from workers, creditors, vendors, aircraft lessors and others. Although it has posted some victories -- just last week it secured a $465 million pay cut from pilots -- US Airways has remained under pressure from bondholders and lessors. Now, it will ask the court to impose lower terms on those parties. In its filing, US Airways listed assets of $7.81 billion and liabilities of $7.83 billion.

Chapter 11 "was not a preferred course of action," David Siegel, US Airways' chief executive, said in an interview. But "we had some pretty tight deadlines" for repaying creditors, he said.

A trip to bankruptcy court can reduce a company's debt and other costs and enable it to soar to profitability, as happened to Continental Airlines following its emergence from Chapter 11 in 1993. The action typically leaves stockholders with little or no value to their holdings. At 4 p.m. Friday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, US Airways shares were at $2.40, far below their 52-week high of $18.32.

Some airlines now say they are hoping for a United bankruptcy-court filing. Chicago-based United, hobbled by enormous losses since Sept. 11, applied in June for a federal loan guarantee, claiming it was having difficulty raising capital. The guarantee would allow United to raise $2 billion before some of its debt comes due later this year.

Some of United's competitors are lobbying the government against granting the guarantee on the ground that it would fail to address the real problem: United's industry-leading labor costs. They contend that what United needs isn't more cash but cost-cutting of the sort that is hard to achieve outside bankruptcy court. A government bailout would allow United to keep paying exorbitant labor rates, rivals say, and consequently pressure would remain on them to match those rates. United workers own 55% of the company.

"If United gets the loan, then we and others could be dead," said Gordon M. Bethune, the outspoken chairman and chief executive of Continental Airlines.

Getting the loan guarantees isn't easy. Out of 16 applicants, only America West Holdings so far has received the aid. And among the nation's nine largest airlines, only US Airways and United have sought the guarantees. US Airways lost nearly $2 billion last year, only part of that attributable to fallout from Sept. 11. In the first half of this year, with its passenger traffic down 17% from the same period a year earlier, the Arlington, Va.-based carrier posted a loss of $517 million.

Last month, US Airways' $900 million application to the loan-guarantee board received approval that was contingent on the company securing the concessions from labor, creditors and lessors that it had promised in its application. Its progress on that front proved insufficient, and now it hopes to achieve those aims in bankruptcy court and emerge from Chapter 11 protection in the first quarter of 2003.

The loan board's regulations allow it to grant aid to airlines in bankruptcy proceedings. US Airways said it secured $500 million in debtor-in-possession financing from a group led by Credit Suisse First Boston and Bank of America Corp. It will also receive $200 million in new equity from Texas Pacific Group, a private investment group. Debtor-in-possession financing, arranged by companies in Chapter 11, ranks ahead of existing company debt.

Mr. Siegel, US Airways' CEO, said the participation of top-tier institutions was a strong endorsement of the carrier's plans. Texas Pacific, which has invested in other airlines including Continental Airlines, would invest the $200 million in US Airways after it emerges from Chapter 11, giving it a 38% stake in the carrier. Mr. Siegel said that Texas Pacific approached US Airways about six weeks ago and was instrumental in helping the airline arrange the debtor-in-possession financing.

Like US Airways, United was losing money before Sept. 11. In its application to the loan-guarantee board, United promised substantial concessions.

But in an interview, its chief financial officer, Jake Brace, last week conceded that federal officials are indicating that those promises aren't sufficient. "We're facing some negative sentiment in Washington," said Mr. Brace, "We talk to lots of people in Washington. [Their] message is: More is needed."

A loan board spokeswoman said only that United's application remains under review.

Even if the UAL application ultimately receives approval, it may not come fast enough to stave off a bankruptcy filing. Just last week, Credit Suisse First Boston analyst Jim Higgins downgraded UAL to "hold" from "buy" on worries that United won't be able to persuade its unions to make sufficient wage concessions to win over the loan board.

Without additional cash, the analyst estimated that United's $2.4 billion of unrestricted cash will dwindle to less than $300 million by year-end, a sum too small to cushion a company of its size. He thinks there is a 75% to 80% chance United will file for Chapter 11 protection.

United's Mr. Brace wouldn't comment on the company's prospects for a bankruptcy filing. Nor would he talk about a Plan B if the government refuses to help out. Like other big carriers, United after Sept. 11 retained bankruptcy counsel, tapping a restructuring specialist at its longtime law firm Kirkland & Ellis.

Jack Creighton, UAL's interim chairman and chief executive, told employees in a telephone message earlier this month that speculation about the company's condition has mounted since it announced a $341 million second-quarter loss and warned of a significant loss for the full year. But, he said: "One thing we know for certain is United Airlines will continue to fly through it all."

At US Airways, which until last summer was pinning its hopes on plans to be purchased by United, the challenges ahead are considerable: a high cost structure; the expansion of competition on its East Coast turf by low-fare airlines and the regional jets operated by large carriers; and the defection of some customers to cars and trains from US Airways' short-haul flights. US Airways essentially is a regional airline with the cost structure of a big international carrier. Its hubs, in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Charlotte, N.C., are unusually close together, giving it little reach beyond the East Coast. Mr. Siegel, the CEO, says he has plans to deal with all these issues.

US Airways began defaulting on a number of public and private debt obligations in July while trying to negotiate with bondholders and others.

The company is being advised in its restructuring by Banc of America Securities LLC, boutique investment-banking firm Seabury Group, and its longtime law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

-- Stephen Power and Scott McCartney contributed to this article.

[bean_counter]

"Just last week, Credit Suisse First Boston analyst Jim Higgins downgraded UAL to "hold" from "buy" on worries that United won't be able to persuade its unions to make sufficient wage concessions to win over the loan board. "

If the 'analysts' have just decided to tell people to stop buying then based on their track record of the past few years UAL will shortly be following US Air - as the article says, the stockholders usually end up "little or no value" after Chap11 - sad that in this case the staff hold 55% of those shares but still don't seem to be able to help themselves

Even the USA govt was going to stop pouring money into unionized employee bank accounts at some point, its not popular with those voters who aren't airline employees, and there are lots of them.

[BOING]

There are two sides to a balance sheet, income and expenditure. Most US airlines are actually carrying what, in normal times, would be healthy passenger loads. UAL is hovering around eighty percent. What the airline industry is not doing is charging enough for the seats, recently AA was selling tickets at less than half of last years prices. Until the US airline industry stops it's rounds of suicidal competitive ticket give-aways there is no hope for the industry until one or two of the old majors go completely out of business. UAL declaring bankruptcy will not stop it flying. It will just allow UAL to maintain lower ticket prices causing greater damage to the remaining majors. Then we will probably see other majors also declaring Chapter Eleven bankruptcy.

UAL has been blamed by other carriers for a general industry wide increase in labour costs following on from the contracts awarded to it's employees over the last couple of years. The other airlines are now waiting for UAL to declare bankruptcy, slash it's labour costs and then the rest of the airlines will use this cost reduction to force concessions in their own employee groups. Nor will the employee groups of other international airlines be safe from the repercussions of this turmoil in the US, the industry is now too international for that to happen. Cost reductions by the US international carriers will inevitably put ticket price pressure on other international carriers.

What we are seeing here is a situation which is actually, quietly, being wecomed by the management of the US airline industry to abrogate contracts that they were not smart enough to defeat in regular contract negotiations. I will not say there is collusion here but there is certainly a strong common interest in this matter between the airlines.

My cynical prediction would be that after a round of emloyee pay concessions we will see the US airlines raise ticket prices. They will then profit greatly from both sides of the balance sheet. Reduced costs and increased income.

Don't be too gleeful about seeing your opponents damaged in this industry, we should all be very well aware by now that we operate in a spiral pattern. A spiral up or a spiral down. The trick is not to let the spiral down start, which a UAL bankruptcy could easily initiate.

[Lewis]

If UAL files Ch 11, AA will be next, then NW .... :eek:

[Notso Fantastic]

I think the outcome will be that the era of very low US domestic airfares will be ending in the near future. If the market cannot sustain the businesses suppling it, then revenues must rise or the impossible outcome will be that air travel is a thing of the past. This hasn't all been caused by 911- it has just compressed what would have been a long drawn out market readjustment to a shorter time scale.

[vmommo]

Date: Friday, August 16, 2002 05:05 PM

Permanent Bid 02-03 Overview

Time Line:

Q Bid Period: November 2002
Q Publish: August 16, 2002 @ 1545 EDT
Q Close: August 26, 2002 @ 2330 EDT
Q Processed: August 27, 2002

Q Results by: August 30, 2002

General Assumptions:

Q One year "Pay no Train" bypass for any age 59+ vacancy

Strategies:

Q Reduction of 198 Captains Positions

Q Furlough of 250 available line pilots in November

Q Further reduction of approximately 250 available line pilots (anticipated first quarter 2003)

Q Reduction of 3 B757-200 aircraft

Q Reduction of 29 B737-300/400 aircraft


LGA - Minus 5 Lines - Total 6 Captains and 14 FOs

BOS - Minus 3 Lines - Total 3 Captains and 8 FOs

DCA

AB - Minus 2 Lines - Total 4 Captains and 14 FOs

737 - Minus 12 Lines - Total 17 Captains and 24 FOs

[CainanUK]

I just read on airliners.net that USAirways has just raised its liabilities to $16 billion up from just under $8 billion.:eek:

What do you think this means? Will US survive or are they done for? I hope with all hope that they can pull through this. i have flown them in the past and find them to be a great airline. I think they finally have a CEO who ISN'T a crook and could possibly turn things around there, I just think it may be too late.

[Roadtrip]

Doubt US Airways will survive another year, at least in it's present form. Sounds like Siegle's ultimate business plan is to turn US Air into a commuter RJ feeder outfit and turn over heavy flying to a code share partner like UAL. Realistically, the US industry doesn't need US Air's capacity for the foreseeable future.

Also unfortunately, the government seems to be playing a very dangerous game of proping up bankrupt carriers like AWA, who then go out and sell seats at below cost, which further hurts the pricing structure and potential recovery of relatively healthy carriers. If they're going to do that, let's just re-regulate the whole darn thing and be done with it.

[major1]

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Reuters) - A federal judge on Thursday allowed US Airways Group Inc. to return 67 aircraft, a key element of its plan to restructure itself under bankruptcy protection from creditors.

Judge Stephen Mitchell of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia approved a pact reached between the airline and certain leasing companies and creditors which had earlier objected to taking the aircraft back.

The lenders and leasing companies could still file claims against the airline related to the aircraft later in the bankruptcy proceedings, US Airways attorney John Butler told the judge.

US Airways, the nation's sixth-largest airline, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Aug. 11 after failing to win concessions from all of its unions, vendors and creditors to restructure its operations.

The airline had argued that the aircraft, a mix of Fokker 100s, MD-80s, Boeing 737s and Boeing 757s, no longer fit into its business plan.

Among those originally objecting were German state-owned bank Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau, with 17 planes involved, John Hancock Life Insurance Co. (two planes), Dutch bank ABN AMRO (two planes) and Credit Suisse First Boston (one aircraft).

All but 10 of the 67 aircraft are already mothballed. Under the deal reached Thursday, US Airways will pay some storage and insurance costs for a short period.

Butler said US Airways was negotiating to retire a further 22 aircraft. "This entire industry is involved in an exercise to reduce and retire aircraft. It's a process we intend to continue," he told the judge.

The airline is trying to cut costs by $1.3 billion and already has won more than $500 million in annual concessions from its pilots and flight attendants.

On Aug. 12, another judge permitted the airline to proceed with the first stage of its $500 million debtor-in-possession funding plan. The package is backed by a group led by Credit Suisse First Boston and Bank of America Corp..

Access to the next tranche, up to $175 million, is due to be considered on Sept. 26, at a hearing on whether to finalize court approval of the financing package. The bankruptcy court will then also review the status of a proposed $200 million equity investment that has been pledged to the carrier by Texas Pacific Group after it emerges from Chapter 11.

US Airways is the first major domestic carrier to seek bankruptcy protection since the Sept. 11 attacks triggered a financial crisis in an industry that already had been wracked by recession. The airline lost almost $2 billion last year and was $500 million in the red in the first half of 2002.