Sucks! Means a LOT less choices for travelers. http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2002/2...8-14-united.htm[br][br][div align=center][br][link:members.cox.net/fstimes/wetimage.html]Click Here For Weather Image of the Day!

This thread will certainly get moved to Hangar Chat, but if you recall the USAirways thread, and the thoughts we expressed in that, the same applies here. Neither airline is gone yet, and even if they do go, aviation will flourish in new and unexpected ways.Check out this link:www.eclipseaviation.comOr this link:www.cartercopters.comI'm not worried about the airlines, the future of the economy, or of aviation....BTW, to keep the thread somewhat O/T--Abacus has a great looking Eclipse for $10.... Perhaps it's not on par with Flight1's 421, but it's still a nice FS2002 aircraft, and also fits the bill of "personal airliner"-John

Not belly up but filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Basically this will protect them from creditors and keep them from paying the 800M debt payment to creditors. United will have to clean up a bit, which means removing some equipment from service, furlough employees, and reduce there schedule.Unfortunately United management over the past two years (prior to 9/11) focused more on buying out US Airways then operating the airline. Thus they did not work on the core business at hand while contracts were already past do for ALPA, and IAM. Leaving them hanging while they blew about 150-200 million on just trying to win approval from the DOT to buy U. Then 9/11 happens, with the lost of travelers, the bread and butter travelers (business travelers) not returning, and the economic situation.The situation is like an aircraft in a holding pattern with 20 minutes left of fuel and the crew is deciding if they should declare an emergency or just wait to be vectored in for landing. What will happen ????The interim CEO at United is giving the company 30 days to come up with a restructuring plan (get AFA, and IAM onboard for wage concessions). Will this happen I am not sure there has been bad blood between the unions and UAL management since the late 70's and every 10 years it seems to get worse and now the clock it ticking.Will united survive, YES but they will be a whole new company with a totally different outlook. We may end up seeing the guppies (half it not more) being retired, canceling the remainder of the 763, 777, and 319/320 orders. Some of the B400's could be retired or put on main line flying you may also see more 777 on main line flying. Many current UAL routes turned over to RJ flying (UA express).If the economy goes into a double dip look out we will see a few more airlines filing for Chapter 11.John

Hey John,An accurate and insightful analysis. Must say these are certainly tough times at United. I AM SURE that we will see the continued light of day at the end of all this. Might be a bit more "streamlined", but we will be flying.Dave