This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by psa188@juno.com. Report: United Air Faces Deadline November 14, 2002 By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 8:45 a.m. ET CHICAGO (AP) -- United Airlines' chief executive says the nation's No. 2 carrier has until Dec. 2 to pull together its overhaul plan, including a federal loan guarantee package, to avoid filing for bankruptcy, a published report said Thursday. The December date is tied to United's deadline to make a $375 million debt payment on loans backed by aircraft. United parent UAL Corp., which is losing more than $7 million a day, is trying to overcome its financial woes by securing a $1.8 billion loan guarantee from the government. The Air Transportation Stabilization Board, which will decide whether United receives the loan, knows of the airline's Dec. 2 deadline and has said it has no timetable for making a decision. ``We don't have to convince anybody that the situation is dire,'' United's CEO Glenn Tilton told The New York Times in Thursday's editions. Tilton argued that United has met conditions required for the $1.8 billion federal backing for a $2 billion bank loan, including union concessions and identifying billions of dollars in cost cuts. If United should be forced to file, Tilton said he thought it would survive a bankruptcy reorganization. ``It would not be the end of United if we were to do so,'' Tilton told the Times. ``We would be flying the next morning.'' But Tilton said the carrier should be focusing on getting the federal loan guarantee. ``What is perplexing me,'' he said, ``is this notion that we ought to get it over with'' and file for bankruptcy protection. Talks are still ongoing between United and its mechanics, the last of the large unions that has not agreed to a cost-cutting agreement. United has obtained a $2.2 billion wage-cutting deal with its 8,800 pilots and $412 million in concessions from 26,000 flight attendants. The Elk Grove Village-based carrier is targeting a total of $5.8 billion in labor cutbacks, which will be key in its application for the loan guarantee. ------ On the Net: United Airlines: www.united.com http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-United-Debt.html?ex=1038282530&ei=1&en=f3816f6604d3a992 HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact onlinesales@nytimes.com or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@nytimes.com. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company