Not to be a stick in the mud as I appreciate your optimism but virtually none of the numbers you state are accurate.
United has been paying for aircraft in "cash" as they are carrying a lot of short term cash and cash equivalents that were all taken out during covid, this is all borrowed money, its not some huge pile of cash that was accumulated via the operation. It's like taking a million dollar loan out against your house and buying a sports car with a check and then turning around and saying you bought it in "cash". Its all borrowed money that you're paying interest on.
United did not generate anywhere close to 7B in free cash flow last year and will not approach 8B this year. As of the latest 10Q for the 6 month period ending on June 30th United has generated 1.474B in free cash flow, Q3 will add around 1.5-1.8 Billion to this number and Q4 far less so on a yearly basis no where close to 8B.
More debt is being issued to pay for aircraft so "no more borrowing" is also completely false.
https://airlineweekly.skift.com/2023...iveries-surge/
"United Airlines reopened the capital markets for airline debt on Monday when it raised more than a billion dollars to finance 39 new Boeing aircraft in its fleet.
The Chicago-based carrier priced the $1.32 billion single-tranche secured notes, known as enhanced equipment trust certificates (EETC), that mature in 2037 with a 5.8 percent coupon. Proceeds will finance 22 737-8s and 17 737-9s that United took delivery of between August 2022 and May 2023. The deal was not upsized, nor was the collateral pool expanded, between launch and pricing."
Dated June 13th 2023
From each respective carriers latest 10Q stating total interest expense YTD
AA: 1,088 million DL: 430 million UA: 979 million
YTD AA has paid 109 million more in interest than United, no where close to 2B.
AA has also paid down more debt YTD than UA and within 12 months UA is likely to overtake AA as the most heavily indebted carrier.
Just wanted to come in here and correct the record with actual reported numbers. Some of the things being stated here are just blatantly wrong and misleading. Even the talk on the number of widebodies, if you look at the original press release on the first order of 787's they stated that:
"
Approximately 100 planes of the new widebody order are expected to replace older Boeing 767 and Boeing 777 aircraft, with all 767 aircraft removed from the United fleet by 2030, resulting in an up to 25% decrease in carbon emissions per seat for the new planes compared to the older planes they are expected to replace."
https://www.united.com/en/us/newsroo...idebody-planes
This latest order for 50 787's is likely for growth in 5-8 years from now which is great. But this talk about UA having more widebodies than AA and DL combined currently also isn't true. It may be true if you add these 50 orders to our current fleet but that assumes AAs and DLs fleet stay static, and spoiler alert, they're not, they are also growing their widebody fleets.
Not trying to rain on anyone’s parade as I'm excited for all the forthcoming growth, but it's important to temper that with the realities of the situation. And apologies to the AA folks on here, some of these comments are outrageous.
https://ir.united.com/financial-perf...oggle=1&page=1
https://americanairlines.gcs-web.com/sec-filings
https://ir.delta.com/financials/default.aspx