The paralegal in the next office works in the "commercial" (e.g., bankruptcy) section here. I asked here earlier in the year what was with all these weekend filings!! Apparently they are increasingly filed electronically, so just as easy to do it on a Sunday.

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/340/nation/United_s_stock_plunges_airline:.shtml

United's stock plunges, airline slides toward bankruptcy

By Eric Fidler, Associated Press, 12/6/2002 04:42

CHICAGO (AP) United Airlines slid into a tailspin a day after its request for a $1.8 billion loan guarantee was rejected by the government, setting up a likely trip to bankruptcy court this weekend.

Sources familiar with the process, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said United was preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Sunday. The carrier was finalizing the terms of a $1.5 billion debtor-in-possession loan that would enable the airline to keep flying during bankruptcy, the sources said.

Thursday was an extraordinarily bleak day for United Airlines. Its stock sank to lows not seen in more than 40 years, employees heaped blame on management and analysts insisted that the once-mighty company had no choice but bankruptcy.

''I can't imagine them avoiding it unless someone writes them a check for $2 billion,'' said analyst Ray Neidl of Blaylock and Partners.

United had worked desperately to wring concessions from its unions to help get the federal loan guarantee that the airline said was necessary to avoid the biggest bankruptcy filing in the history of the airline industry.

But a federal board rejected the guarantee Wednesday, saying United's financial recovery plan was flawed.

The company has lost more than $4 billion since the middle of 2000 and is headed for an industry-record loss of more than $2 billion for the second straight year.

Still, UAL chief executive Glenn Tilton, asked about the possibility of bankruptcy, told Chicago's WLS-TV that ''nothing really is a foregone conclusion.''

Tilton has said the airline would continue to fly whatever choice was made. United makes about 1,700 flights per day and has about 83,000 employees worldwide.

United, the world's largest airline until American Airlines became No. 1 last year, traces its problems to a drop in passengers because of the weak economy and the terrorist attacks, an increase in competition from smaller discount airlines and failed business strategies.

United employees fear the worst from the airline's financial woes, including layoffs and benefit cuts. Many are already reeling from stock losses.

Mechanic Michael Sanft took a pay cut and accepted changes in work rules for six years in exchange for company shares stock that has since lost 90 percent of its value.

Sanft's shares of UAL Corp. stock, earned as part of the company's employee ownership plan, were worth about $150,000 in October 1997. On Thursday, they were worth about $1,500.

''It's stuff you work for,'' said Sanft, who works at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. ''It's not stuff we were given.''

Associated Press writer Eric Fidler in Chicago and AP Business Writer Brad Foss in New York contributed to this report.

-- Anonymous, December 06, 2002