United Airlines fights to remain solvent

United, which is the US's second biggest airline, was yesterday struggling to secure £954m ($1.5bn) debtor-in-possession financing so it could continue to operate during Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

According to a Financial Times report, United's financing was endangered when General Electric's financing unit, thought to be part of the deal, pulled out of talks yesterday afternoon.

Quoting parties involved in the talks, the newspaper said the financing package had been agreed in two parts. The largest was a $1.2bn package from JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank One, and CIT.