United
By Kevin
United has been trying to get the federal government to underwrite its loans:
United Airlines on Monday lost a bid to secure a federal loan guarantee, a fresh setback to the carrier's efforts to emerge from bankruptcy.If they cannot climb out of bankruptcy on their own, perhaps they don't deserve to survive. I say let 'em fail!The Air Transportation Stabilization Board said that after studying the airline's latest application, submitted last week, it would not change the panel's June 17 decision to reject United's request for a $1.6 billion federal loan guarantee....
In Monday's letter, the board said it "carefully considered the additional financial information provided by United." But in the end, the board concluded — as it did in its June 17th rejection — that granting the loan guarantee was not a necessary part of maintaining a safe, efficient and viable commercial aviation system in the United States, a requirement for receiving a federal loan guarantee.
There would be a market upheaval if the second largest carrier failed. I'm not going to judge whether this would be "good" or "bad" in a welfare sense, but clearly creative destruction is sweeping through the airline industry.
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