United Airlines to lose 175 aircraft

(This might belong better in BTS - if a mod thinks so, please move it there)

UA has recently lost an appeal against investors reposessing aircraft being leased to United Airlines, which currently stands at 175 aircraft. With a 460 aircraft fleet, thats a pretty big chunk of the fleet which wont be protected under the Chapter 11 protection UA has against investors.

news.airwise.com...

It seems that this probably wont be the last US airline to fall, as post 9/11 trends have shown that the only airline markets to increase and sustain airlines with a positive operating margin is that of Europe and Asia, indeed only the most basic and cutthroat budget airlines in the US showed a profit at all over the past 12 months (and even then, out of the 5 airlines named, they only totaled a profit of $0.8million together).

I find it interesting that the US and latin american markets have essentially collapsed while other markets have shown dramatic increases in traffic (it was announced in October 2004 that European air traffic and passenger numbers had already exceeded pre 9/11 levels). If the future for air travel lies in economy, rather than luxury, and with the recent approval of the first transatlantic 737 service, the next few years could be very interesting indeed.

www.airport-int.com...

To add a little more info, its currently only 8 aircraft that are facing immediate repossession, with another 6 already having been handed back voluntarily by UA. It is *extremely* likely that the rest of the 175leased aircraft will now be repossessed, as UA havent been paying the leasing fees for a while now, in some cases up to 2 years.

Richard,
Thanks for posting the Info. and you are right. Its going to be interesting in the future. Unforchant to say that but also true.

I wish the UA survives the hard times. The more airlines, the more competition and the more affordable the travel.

I flew UA over Xmas and I would do it again.

Interesting, I looked to see if I could find exactly how old the planes were etc. If they are the newer more efficient planes, then United is in big trouble. But on the flip side, its its say a bunch of 737-200 or something then it may be a big plus for the airline.

They may work something out with the creditors. Unless these leased planes are freighter conversion candidates, or are737-NG etc etc, then these companies will have to just fly them Airizona and let them sit.

I don't get it... A year or so ago, I used to fly often, for business, and planes were always pretty crowded, on almost all flights.

Business flight needs haven't really changed, so I don't see the reason for the downturn, especially since 911 is getting further and further in the past.

Originally posted by FredT
Interesting, I looked to see if I could find exactly how old the planes were etc. If they are the newer more efficient planes, then United is in big trouble. But on the flip side, its its say a bunch of 737-200 or something then it may be a big plus for the airline.

From discussion elsewhere on this topic, the planes mainly seem to be 767-300s (763s) with a couple of -200s thrown into the mix. There is talk of creditors either leasing them in the EU market, which is booming atm, or doing freight conversions on them which is also blossoming in the US.