TEMPE, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
US Airways Group, Inc. (NYSE: LCC) announced today that as part of
a comprehensive liquidity program launched in mid August, the Company
has raised approximately $950 million of financing and near-term
liquidity commitments. On October 20, 2008 the Company closed on $800
million of these transactions with $400 million of proceeds used to
prepay the Company's $1.6 billion bank debt facility. In exchange for
this prepayment, the unrestricted cash covenant contained in the loan
agreement for the bank debt facility has been reduced from $1.25
billion to $850 million. The loan agreement's term remains the same at
seven years with substantially all of the principal amount payable at
maturity in March 2014. The remaining proceeds from these financing
transactions, approximately $370 million after payment of certain bank
and other service fees, increase the Company's total cash position and
will be used for general corporate purposes. The remaining $150
million of liquidity commitments are expected to close during the
fourth quarter, with cash benefits realized through 2009.
"Today's announcement confirms that US Airways' financial footing
is solid," said Chairman and CEO Doug Parker. "As a result of these
financings our total cash position relative to annual revenues ranks
solidly among the highest of the largest US carriers. Most notably, we
were able to complete this financing in the midst of unprecedented
global financial unrest, which is a testament to the confidence our
investors and business partners have in the people of US Airways. We
are extremely appreciative of their support, and we intend to reward
their commitment to us by continuing to run a great operation and
returning our airline to profitability in the years ahead."
The Company estimates that 2009 expenses will increase by
approximately $90 million due to costs related to these transactions,
of which approximately $65 million is non-cash.
Chief Financial Officer Derek Kerr added, "Combined with our
August equity offering which generated $179 million, and other
financings completed during the quarter, US Airways has raised or
secured approximately $1.2 billion in cash and payment deferrals since
we released our second quarter financial results. I want to personally
thank and publicly acknowledge our internal finance and legal teams
for their exceptional and diligent work over this period. Our outside
advisors were also extremely helpful in this endeavor. On behalf of
the entire US Airways leadership team, we thank Seabury Group Chairman
and CEO John Luth and his team for their outstanding work as our
financial advisor, as well as the team at Skadden, Arps, Slate,
Meagher & Flom LLP for their excellent legal counsel."
US Airways, along with US Airways Shuttle and US Airways Express,
operates approximately 3,200 flights per day and serves 200
communities in the U.S., Canada, Europe, the Caribbean and Latin
America. The airline employs more than 34,000 aviation professionals
worldwide and is a member of the Star Alliance network, which offers
our customers 18,000 daily flights to 965 destinations in 162
countries worldwide. In the first eight months of 2008, US Airways
ranked first in on-time performance among the ten largest U.S.
carriers according to the Department of Transportation's Air Travel
Consumer Report. And for the tenth consecutive year, the airline
received a Diamond Award for maintenance training excellence from the
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for its Charlotte, North
Carolina hub line maintenance facility. For more company information,
visit usairways.com. (LCCF)
Forward Looking Statements
Certain of the statements contained herein should be considered
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward looking
statements may be identified by words such as "may," "will," "expect,"
"intend," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "plan," "could,"
"should," and "continue" and similar terms used in connection with
statements regarding the outlook, expected fuel costs, revenue and
pricing environment, and expected financial performance of US Airways
Group (the "Company"). Such statements include, but are not limited
to, statements about the benefits of the business combination
transaction involving America West Holdings Corporation and US Airways
Group, including future financial and operating results, the Company's
plans, objectives, expectations and intentions, and other statements
that are not historical facts. These statements are based upon the
current beliefs and expectations of the Company's management and are
subject to significant risks and uncertainties that could cause the
Company's actual results and financial position to differ materially
from these statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are
not limited to, the following: the impact of future significant
operating losses; changes in prevailing interest rates and increased
costs of financing; the impact of economic conditions; the Company's
high level of fixed obligations (including compliance with financial
covenants related to those obligations) and the ability of the Company
to obtain and maintain any necessary financing for operations and
other purposes; the ability of the Company to maintain adequate
liquidity; labor costs, relations with unionized employees generally
and the impact and outcome of the labor negotiations; the impact of
high fuel costs, significant disruptions in fuel supply and further
significant increases to fuel prices; reliance on vendors and service
providers and the ability of the Company to obtain and maintain
commercially reasonable terms with those vendors and service
providers; reliance on automated systems and the impact of any failure
or disruption of these systems; the impact of changes in the Company's
business model; the impact of industry consolidation; competitive
practices in the industry, including significant fare restructuring
activities, capacity reductions or other restructuring or
consolidation activities by major airlines; the ability to attract and
retain qualified personnel; the impact of global instability including
the potential impact of current and future hostilities, terrorist
attacks, infectious disease outbreaks or other global events;
government legislation and regulation, including environmental
regulation; the Company's ability to obtain and maintain adequate
facilities and infrastructure to operate and grow the Company's
network; costs of ongoing data security compliance requirements and
the impact of any data security breach; interruptions or disruptions
in service at one or more of the Company's hub airports; the impact of
any accident involving the Company's aircraft; delays in scheduled
aircraft deliveries or other loss of anticipated fleet capacity;
security-related and insurance costs; weather conditions; the cyclical
nature of the airline industry; the impact of foreign currency
exchange rate fluctuations; the ability to use pre-merger NOLs and
certain other tax attributes; ability to complete the integration of
labor groups; the ability to maintain contracts critical to the
Company's operations; the ability of the Company to attract and retain
customers; and other risks and uncertainties listed from time to time
in the Company's reports to the SEC. There may be other factors not
identified above of which the Company is not currently aware that may
affect matters discussed in the forward-looking statements, and may
also cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed.
The Company assumes no obligation to publicly update any
forward-looking statement to reflect actual results, changes in
assumptions or changes in other factors affecting such estimates other
than as required by law. Additional factors that may affect the future
results of the Company are set forth in the section entitled "Risk
Factors" in the Company's Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended
June 30, 2008 and in the Company's filings with the SEC, which are
available at www.usairways.com
-LCC-
Source: US Airways Group, Inc.