United Airlines filed for bankruptcy today, becoming the biggest air carrier ever to seek court protection, after a weak economy, high costs and low air fares left the world's second-biggest airline with too much debt and not enough cash.
The airline will still fly as it reorganises under protection from the US Bankruptcy Court in the Northern District of Illinois.
|
|
United Airlines jets sit on the tarmac at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Virginia. The airline filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after losing a request for federal loan guarantees.
|
United, with about 83,000 employees, had two of its Boeing jets commandeered in the devastating attacks on New York and Washington on September 11th, 2001. Since then, it has posted a record 2001 loss of $2.1 billion and a loss of $1.7 billion for the first three quarters of 2002, with no end to losses in sight.
United follows its smaller rival, US Airways Group Inc. of Arlington, Virginia, as the second major US carrier to go into bankruptcy this year.