Four airports agree to grace period on United bonds, hearing CHICAGO (AP) =97 Four airports on Monday agreed to give United Airlines a=20 15-day grace period before proceeding with eviction actions should the=20 airline fail to make debt payments on about $1.7 billion in bonds. UAL,=20 parent of United Airlines, believes it doesn't have to make payments on the= =20 special-facilities revenue bonds, originally intended for=20 airport-improvement projects, due to restrictions put in place after the=20 airline sought federal bankruptcy protection in December. UAL says the=20 payments represent unsecured debt which wouldn't be paid while it is in=20 bankruptcy. But representatives for the airports in Denver, Los Angeles,=20 New York and San Francisco contend the payments must be made. UAL has about= =20 $16 million in payments due on April 1. On March 1, UAL missed a $3.2=20 million payment on bonds for improvements at Chicago's O'Hare and a $1=20 million payment on Miami-Dade bonds. UAL's bonds were generally unchanged=20 Monday. According to UAL's annual report, filed with the Securities and=20 Exchange Commission late Friday, if default provisions are triggered, the=20 company could lose its status as a "signatory airline" which would result=20 in higher rents and landing fees. UAL earlier this month filed temporary=20 restraining orders to prevent the airports from starting default actions=20 should the airline decide not to make payments. But Judge Eugene R. Wedoff= =20 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois refused= =20 to grant the company's requests, saying UAL must wait until there is=20 actually a default before bringing the matter before the court. In addition= =20 to the 15-day minimum grace period, the sides on Monday also agreed to a=20 May 23 hearing date to determine how to proceed with a formal trial on the= =20 matter. Shares of UAL closed at 84 cents Monday, down 1 cent, or 1.2%, on=20 the New York Stock Exchange. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week:http://www.ttsailing.org/ TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************