Posted on 09/12/2005 3:15:48 PM PDT by AGreatPer
Just reported that Delta will file for Chapter 11 within 48 hours.
My words - Northwestern won't be far behind.
Back about 10 years ago, I think it was, NWA decided to upgrade their -9s instead of replacing them. All new avionics, the works.
I would imagine one of the big reasons for Delta to file now is the fact that under the new Code, which takes effect next month, it will be almost impossible to get a KERP (a "Key Employee Retention Program"), which is basically a bonus/incentive program that they give to top execs so they won't leave during the bankruptcy. Trust me, you will see a lot of businesses filing chapter 11 between now and Oct 17. If they are teetering, they will lean towards filing. Just my two cents (I'm a bankr. atty).
I would've used the term "mortgage" if I wanted to write that exact same sentence just excluding the slang term "hock"..
"And, in Ch 11, they can get rid of their pension plan"
getting rid of pensions, unfavorable union contracts, unsecured debt will be merely a formality. They'll be able to get out of contracts for gates at major hub facilities, if they are too expensive.
Still, I think it would be better to let these marginal airlines go out of business so that companies that know how to make money can do it without competitors that are subsidized by government loans and protected by bankruptcy courts.
Anybody know if the government loans of post 9-11 get priority over other creditors?
I found that, too, while digging around on this issue.
It is indeed a very cool site! :)
Amazingly enough, my term is far more precisely what is being done than the slang term used by Reuters..
Last but not least, Reuters is supposedly a British news service and "hock" is a slang Americanism; most definitely not the Queen's English. Oh how far the mighty have fallen.. ;^)
Hey, thanks a lot!
"Nothing to do with ham hocks, or "hawk". [sic]
The ONLY proper use of hock IS ham hock--with blackeyed-peas, a little onion and cornbread. All the rest of babble.
Gotta love that comment. In the middle of some not so series stuff, a great comment comes out.
True (as an earlier poster pointed out.) Northwest does. But UAL was still flying old 727s in the late '90s.
I think the word is used correctly, as in encumber, not sell. That is because it referred to "unencumbered" assets. Also, I don't the term "hawk" would be used as opposed to sell, while hock might as opposed to "put up as security" since the latter is rather cumbersom. And there you have it.
So was TWA. The death of TWA was one of the saddest things in the biz. In fact we took over their old ops building and our dispatch floor is their old one. I remember flying on an old TWA 707 from FCO-BOS back in '79. Remember the 707?? One of my favorites..
Continental? Really? Good to know; flying them next week.
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