United likely to meet bankruptcy loan targets CHICAGO (Reuters) =97 United Airlines, the No. 2 U.S. carrier operating in= =20 bankruptcy, should be able to meet targets on bankruptcy loans next month,= =20 a source familiar with the matter said, a sign the airline could emerge=20 from court protection rather than be forced into liquidation. While not out= =20 of the woods financially, United's ability to meet its May=20 debtor-in-possession covenants without waivers indicates the airline is=20 weathering the current travel downturn better than expected, several=20 banking sources said. All U.S. airlines saw bookings, particularly on=20 transatlantic routes, soften in the lead up to war in Iraq as travelers=20 once again became afraid to fly. The travel slump put even more pressure on= =20 the world's largest airline, AMR's American Airlines to either restructure= =20 its own labor agreements consensually or else face bankruptcy as well.=20 United, based in Elk Grove Village, Ill., is a unit of UAL. The debt-laden= =20 airline filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December after=20 arranging $1.5 billion in financing from four financial institutions. The=20 loan package was one of the largest such bankruptcy financings ever put=20 together, following those at Kmart and WorldCom. As war in Iraq looked=20 imminent, talk circulated the aviation industry that United was in danger=20 of liquidating altogether, an event some rivals said publicly would be good= =20 for cutting out excess capacity in the skies. According to a court filing=20 last month in support of the airline's push to reject all of its labor=20 agreements, United said that beginning in February 2003 and continuing for= =20 every month through November 2003, special financial criteria must be met=20 to satisfy lenders. *************************************************** 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.pscutt.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************