United Airlines Is Rounding Up $10 Billion to Survive COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has crushed air travel demand this year, causing airlines to burn through cash rapidly. United Airlines (NASDAQ: UAL) has been no exception. While United has been quite aggressive about grounding aircraft and slashing costs to mitigate the impact of the virus on its financials, its heavy reliance on long-haul international travel and business travel made it particularly vulnerable to the disruption from COVID-19. Those factors also point to a slow recovery for its business.
That makes it critical for United Airlines to maintain a strong cash position, to ensure that it can survive the current crisis regardless of the future course of the pandemic. With some recently announced financing moves, the airline is finally close to reaching this goal.
At the end of the first quarter, United Airlines had $5.2 billion of unrestricted cash and investments on its balance sheet. It also had $2 billion of availability on its revolving credit line.
Source Fool.com
