UAL aumenta liquidez em US $ 150 milhões

CHICAGO, IL – UAL Corporation, the holding company whose primary subsidiary is United Airlines, today announced a sale and leaseback transaction that added approximately US$150 million of cash to the company’s unrestricted liquidity.

The company sold 15 Boeing 757 aircraft to East Shore Aircraft, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wayzata Opportunities Fund II, LP, for approximately US$150 million. United Airlines will lease these aircraft back from East Shore Aircraft, LLC and will continue to operate and maintain the aircraft.

With the completion of this transaction, United has raised more than US$250 million of the US$300 million of additional liquidity the company has said it expects to raise in the fourth quarter of 2008, on top of nearly US$1.4 billion the company raised in the third quarter of this year.

“We are pleased to have successfully closed another financing transaction despite the tight credit markets. In this challenging economic environment, we are taking the right steps, with this financing and the significant cash United has raised in prior quarters this year, to ensure we have appropriate liquidity,” said Kathryn Mikells, United’s CFO. “At the same time, we are encouraged by the significant drop in fuel prices – our largest cost – which will better position United as we work to return to profitability next year.”