Hi it's Glenn, and it's Christmas Eve.

This past week has been an extremely busy one and I want to take a few minutes to put events into the proper perspective. There are challenges that we still face as a company, but United's turnaround remains solidly on track.

The biggest developments this week related to our exit financing, which, you will recall, is the funding that we need to operate upon emergence from Chapter 11. First, on the basis of our updated business plan, JPMorgan and Citigroup have committed last Tuesday to 2 billion dollars in exit financing. Then, on Thursday with the backing from the capital markets, we submitted our updated application to the ATSB.

The plan that we have submitted demonstrates that we are a substantially stronger company than we were a year ago and we're a company that's ready now to compete today and into the future.

There are several key things I'd like to highlight about the bank commitments and our ATSB application. First, we are seeking a total of 2 billion dollars in exit financing, but have applied for only 1.6 billion dollars in ATSB guarantees, down from 1.8 billion dollars last year. This reduction is possible because the banks increased the non-guaranteed portion of the loan that they're willing to underwrite from 200 million dollars to 400 million dollars.

Second, the fact that the banks are willing to put a substantial amount of their own money at risk is a true market validation of all of our work. It shows that they have a high degree of confidence in both the extraordinary progress we've made and confidence in our business plan. It adds significant credibility to our updated ATSB application.

Third, this is the first time that the non-guaranteed portion of an ATSB loan would be provided by commercial lenders rather than by corporations or other entities that were doing significant business with the airline applicant and that had a vested interest in the survival of the airline.

Finally, it would also be the first time that the non-guaranteed portion is as high as 20 percent of the loan, twice as high as the non-guaranteed portion in any previous approved ATSB loan.

These are all significant points of fact. The business plan that we provided to the ATSB is vastly improved on every front and reflects a far more competitive and financially stronger United.

The update also provides that steps that we have taken to squarely address the issues are real, especially those that were raised specifically by the ATSB.

These include the company's success in significantly reducing costs, generating improved revenue, developing a competitive response to low-cost carriers, ensuring that our financial projections are based on conservative assumptions, and managing the company's pension obligations -- all while maintaining excellent operation performance.

We all recognize -- from the lenders to the Board and to the management of the company -- that none of these accomplishments would have been possible without the individual sacrifice you've made and the good work that you do every day.

Of course, we still have work to do in several key areas, including long-term pension funding and the restructuring of our aircraft financing. We're making steady progress on these and other fronts, and we're on track to emerge from bankruptcy in the first half of next year.

I encourage you to look at these developments not only as an affirmation of our efforts, but also as encouragement to continue improving and building on an even stronger United.

Also, as I've said, in a very busy period since I last spoke to you on the call, we released our Monthly Operating Results for November.

Despite the seasonal downturn and a net loss because of reorganization expense, we were able to continue to outpace the industry in unit revenue improvement, retain a positive cash flow of 2 million dollars per day and meet our debtor-in-possession financing requirements for the 10th straight month.

And, finally, as you may have read by now, Mesa Airlines has decided not to go forward with its proposed acquisition of Atlantic Coast. I'd like you to know that their decision has no impact on our business plan as submitted to our lenders or to the ATSB.

As we have said many times before, United remains committed to our Dulles hub and to continuing to provide reliable, high-quality service to United Express customers at Dulles and the spoke cities that we serve from there.

Before I sign off, I know that many of you are celebrating holidays this week and next, and I want to wish you good health and good fortune in the future. I'll be talking to you again in the New Year. We have much to be thankful for as this year draws to a close, and we have done very good work. I hope that all of you are able to share -- with your families and your loved ones -- pride in all that we have accomplished and confidence in the future. Between now and when we talk again next, stay United.