Global Airport News
US Airways said on Tuesday that it has taken steps to improve its cash position and decrease capital spending that include delaying some plane deliveries.
The US carrier said its plans to extend certain debt maturities and eliminate the need to access aircraft finance markets would enhance liquidity by about USD$150 million by the end of this year and generate about USD$450 million of projected liquidity improvements by the end of 2010.
"The airlines want to preserve what liquidity they have," said Michael Derchin, an analyst with FTN Equity Capital Markets. "When the economy does rebound, they want to be in a position to start to generate some profits and generate some operating cash flow."
US Airways said it will defer delivery of 54 Airbus planes that had been previously set for between 2010 and 2012 to 2013 and beyond, a move that will cut its aircraft spending by about USD$2.5 billion over the next three years. It also said that the beginning of its Airbus A350 XWB operations, under which plane deliveries were to start in 2015, is now postponed until 2017.
The company said it will keep planes it had previously scheduled to replace until the deferred aircraft are delivered.
But the airline also said that it still plans to take delivery of two A320 and two A330 planes next year and an added 24 A320 aircraft in 2011 and 2012.
The company also said it has agreed with Barclays to lower the unrestricted cash condition tied to the advance purchase of frequent flyer miles.
US Airways has taken a number of moves this year to position itself for an eventual recovery in air travel. In August, it and Delta Air Lines agreed to swap take-off and landing rights at New York LaGuardia and Washington Reagan National airports, continuing US Airways' efforts to reorganise its route structure. Like other airlines, it also completed a share sale in recent months.
