UAL Could Lose $150 Million Due to Delays

United Airlines parent UAL Corp. is on a pace to lose as much as $150 million in the summer quarter alone from turmoil that has caused a rash of flight delays and thousands of cancellations, the company’s president, Rono Dutta, said. He called an analyst’s estimate of a pretax loss of $120 million to $150 million in the third quarter “in the ballpark,” according to a company spokesman. The estimate, issued this week by PaineWebber Inc. airline analyst Sam Buttrick, provided additional pressure on UAL’s shares, which fell $1.25 to close at $49.88 on the New York Stock Exchange. Bad weather, a shortage of pilots and labor strife have all contributed to the problems that have forced the world’s largest airline to cancel 13% of its flights so far this month. United and its pilots both say they are making progress toward resolving a months-long contract impasse by Labor Day. Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) said he met with UAL Chief Executive Jim Goodwin and Rick Dubinsky, president of the Air Line Pilots Assn., and urged them to continue negotiations through the weekend in the hope of reaching a resolution by next week.