Bankrupt United Airlines Friday won court approval for another three months to file its bankruptcy reorganization plan without interference from other parties.
Bankruptcy Judge Eugene Wedoff extended United's exclusivity through April 30. The current extension was due to expire Jan. 31.
The world's No. 2 carrier, a unit of UAL Corp., said the extension would allow it to continue "without disruption" efforts to secure final cost cuts from labor and finalize other restructuring agreements.
Creditors supported the extension of exclusivity, the airline said.
"There's nobody else that I know of on the horizon that has a competing plan," said Michael Boyd, an aviation consultant with the Boyd Group. "But the question about United right now is, 'What are they going to do differently?"'
Boyd said the carrier may emerge from bankruptcy this year, but he cautioned that soaring fuel prices will continue to hinder the process.
United is also trying to obtain financing necessary to step out of court protection. The Elk Grove Village, Illinois, airline has been in bankruptcy since December 2002.
Like most other big airlines, United has been battered by soaring fuel costs, low revenue and competition from low-cost carriers. Several major carriers this week reported heavy fourth-quarter losses, including Delta Air Lines Inc. which came in with a $2.2 billion loss.
United also presented to Wedoff a revised concession deal with pilots that was reached earlier this week. Wedoff rejected an earlier version of the plan on Jan. 7, saying it gave pilots unfair leverage over the bankruptcy process.
Wedoff said the reworked deal addressed his concerns, but held off on approving it until the pilots' union completed its ratification vote. That process began Thursday and is due to be completed on Jan. 31.
United has also reached giveback agreements with flight attendants and mechanics, and is negotiating with baggage handlers and other ground workers. UAL is negotiating pension issues with the unions separately.
UAL Chief Executive Glenn Tilton said in a recorded message to employees Friday that the airline reached deals with the unions by agreeing to smaller wage cuts. In return the unions agreed to accept less pay from a performance-based incentive program.
The wage and benefit concessions are part of the company's drive to save $725 million from labor groups on top of $2.5 billion in givebacks negotiated earlier with the same unions.
"We think we have largely achieved what the banks expected us to achieve," Chief Financial Officer Jake Brace told reporters after Friday's bankruptcy hearing.
If the company fails to reach permanent deals with its unions on concessions, the airline hopes to void their collective bargaining deals. Wedoff scheduled a trial on the matter for May.
UAL narrowly avoided a January trial on the labor pacts when it reached last-minute tentative agreements with its flight attendants and mechanics.
