United Airlines filed its Chapter 11 in the Northern District of Illinois. If you wish case information, then you can go to the court's website at http://www.ilnb.uscourts.gov/chapter11/0248191.htm.

Basically, a debtor in a Chapter 11 case in the U.S. has 120 days from the filing date in which it and only it can file a plan of reorganization. That period is referred to as the exclusive period. It may be extended on motion and extensions are often granted in mega cases. A plan of reorganization will be accompanied by a disclosure statement which is similar to a prospectus in a stock offering. It will (or should) contain statements as to how UAL plans to restructure its business.

My guess (and it really is only a guess) is that UAL will be in Chapter 11 for a while. The entire industry is in financial chaos. Last week I spoke with a pundit who believes that Boeing will file Chapter 11 soon. Moreover, I am told that there were only three airlines that were profitable in 2001 (Southwest, JetBlue and CapeAir). I don't think that there is any advantage to UAL to emerge from Chapter 11 early. Nevertheless, with all the news services covering the case all of us should be relatively current on information. I tend to get daily reports on the mega cases and if I get anything of interest I will forward it to the Zine.

Tom on alert in Carlisle.