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United clears obstacles: airline readying emergence from bankruptcy.

Article Excerpt
United Airlines parent UAL Corp., following three years of bankruptcy protection, in recent weeks cleared two hurdles toward February's Chapter 11 finishing line. United came to an agreement with its creditors on contested issues related to its plan of reorganization and last week reached a tentative deal with its flight attendants union for a replacement retirement plan, making cuts to the union's pension proposal. As of press time, the flight attendant agreements still were awaiting ratification.

"Being able to reach a global, consensual agreement with the creditor's committee prior to confirmation is the goal in any restructuring," CFO and executive vice president Jake Brace said. Once the flight attendant agreement is ratified, he said, "we will now have resolved pension and retirement issues with all of our employee groups."

The latest figures show the country's second-largest airline still very much in the red, but Brace said United returns rehabilitated and "ready to compete with the strongest carriers."

As United's exit from bankruptcy tips the scales of the Big Six toward solvency, with only Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines remaining under Chapter 11...

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