United Gets $3 Billion in Exit Financing Offers

United Airlines’ parent company said it had secured new commitments from banks for as much as $3 billion in debt financing that should enable it to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy by late 2005 or early 2006.

Although the financing is not yet final, UAL Corp. hailed the revised proposals as a strong endorsement of the new business plan it formulated this summer even as the steep increase in fuel prices continued to squeeze carriers’ bottom lines.

The commitments from the four financiers -- Citibank, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Deutsche Bank and GE Commercial Finance -- were disclosed as the Elk Grove Village, Ill.-based airline updated its status in a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

The latest evidence of the industry’s financial hemorrhaging came in a separate announcement when United said it posted a $274-million net loss for July.