US Airways Set To Emerge From Bankruptcy On Monday

[jmc_757-200]

Hi,
US Airways is set to emerge from bankruptcy on Monday after a bankruptcy judge cleared its revised pension plan for pilots, a company spokeswoman said.

"We are going to come out (of bankruptcy) on Monday," US Airways spokeswoman Deborah Thompson said.

The bankruptcy court in Virginia has removed the final hurdle by approving a plan by US Airways to modify its pilots' pension plan.

Earlier, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, the government agency that supervises pension plans, said it would not object to the carrier's plan to convert its traditional pension plan to a "defined-contribution pension arrangement".

The new plan provides cash to pension accounts without offering guaranteed monthly payments.

US Airways and the pilots agreed on the change last week, terminating the existing pension plan.

The seventh-ranked US carrier said this month that bookings had plunged almost 40 per cent in the week since March 12, with the Iraq war affecting transatlantic bookings in particular.

The company applied for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last August, the first major US carrier to do so after the hijack terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, frightened many passengers out of the skies.

Good News :D

Thanks

jmc_757-200

Source - The Sydney Morning Herald

[Wino]

Yep,

Then the 900 million dollar loan will be used to repay the DIP financing that the retirment fund put in, and the losses will continue and USAIR will be back in bankruptcy in 3 months.

The airline has not been cashflow positive even 1 month in bankruptcy and an airline the size of USAIR needs to be cashflow positive to the tune of a half a billion dollars a year or so just to stay ahead of its capital spending requirements (not included in cashflow)...

I wish I could be more cheerfull

Cheers
Wino

[Airbubba]

Another paycut slid under the door Friday afternoon:

US Airways cuts employee pay 5 percent

Reuters, 03.29.03, 6:41 PM ET

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK, March 29 (Reuters) - US Airways Group Inc. <UAWGQ.OB>, which is expected on Monday to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, has told employees it will immediately cut wages 5 percent across the board because the Iraq war has caused bookings to fall.

The cuts will take effect on Monday or Tuesday, depending on the start of the affected employees' pay period, the No. 7 U.S. carrier said. U.S. Airways will restore the cuts after its first profitable quarter or 18 months, whichever comes first, but not necessarily if war ends.

US Airways, which is based in Arlington, Virginia, announced its wage deferrals in a voice-mail message on Friday from Chief Executive David Siegel. An airline spokeswoman said a letter from Siegel is being sent this weekend to all of US Airways' employees, who numbered 37,100 at the end of 2002.

"As the war in Iraq has entered its second week, we're seeing the impact on new bookings which continue to be down significant double digits from what would have otherwise been expected," Siegel said in the voice message, monitored by Reuters. "While our reorganization provides for a much brighter future, US Airways is still in a very fragile state."

The carrier said it negotiated the right to impose the wage deferrals in December.

"We know this is an additional sacrifice, but these are extraordinary circumstances," Siegel said in his letter, contents of which was provided by the airline. "Like many other carriers, we face survival challenges related to the dramatic reduction in travel, the rise in fuel costs and other effects on our operations and the economy from the war."

A spokeswoman for the airline, Deborah Thompson, said: "The company will continue to take a look at the situation and modify the deferral if possible."

[B767300ER]

Great to learn of this, and hopefully their troubles are behind them. Good airline, good people, and hopefully, a good future.

I wish them all the best, and hope they keep their pensions (or most of it), and recall their furloughees soon.