Hi, it's Glenn, and I'm calling from O'Hare on my way to Europe.

Over the past several days, we have participated in very productive discussions with key stakeholders, including a two-day meeting with the Board of Directors and a meeting with the Creditors' Committee today.

The multi-day session with the Board afforded the management team the opportunity to thoroughly discuss and stress-test the viability of the global network model. We took a long hard look at whether there was something inherently uncompetitive about our business model when we compared it to those of low-cost carriers.

That analysis validated our approach, that the fundamental value proposition, the extensive global network structure that we offer the customer, remains fully relevant. Several analysts have recently supported that view, including a Lehman analyst who said last week, “we believe the hub and spoke model has a major place in the future of the transportation infrastructure in the United States.”

That said, what does need improving, as we have said for some time, is how we at United execute against that model. This is our critical work, because we know that the competitive landscape has changed forever.

The customer is willing to pay for specific value components of the overall travel experience that is associated with the global network model. However, we have burdened the model with costs that the customer is neither willing nor interested in paying for. And, they are not costs that are directly associated with the value proposition of United.

We have adjusted our capacity, diversified our portfolio, and expanded internationally. In fact, we have launched 30 new international routes since February of 2002, 70% of which we announced this year.

We can do this because our core assets afford us the opportunity to put the right product in the right place at the right value for the right competitive circumstances.

In the context of the current market realities -- tremendous overcapacity, lack of any domestic pricing power, fuel today at $51 a barrel -- we have been methodically working to accelerate the optimization and redeployment of our assets as we work hard to reduce our costs. Through this latest redeployment, we will continue to expand and strengthen our international service while maintaining the breadth of our domestic fleet.

The question for us then has been what does this acceleration mean for our overall product portfolio, for the Mainline, for Ted, for United Express, and the flexibility that each product affords us?

Looking at the Mainline fleet, our current network modifications will have the most fundamental impact on our international presence.

The model is resilient, but it is especially so internationally, where we generate more of a premium, and where we come from a position of leadership. We will continue our robust international expansion, without giving up domestic relevance.

International capacity will increase by 14%. The bulk of that capacity will be seen in the Pacific, where we are doubling our capacity to China, increasing service in Japan, and gearing up for our exciting new Vietnam service.

We are also expanding throughout Mexico and the Caribbean, and Ted, which has been performing very well domestically, will handle the bulk of that expansion.

Domestically, our redeployments reflect the realities of this very difficult marketplace -- the competition, the fuel costs, the pricing pressure, and the continuing overcapacity. So we're going to be responsive. We are moving to reallocate our assets to more profitable routes, and to reduce our domestic capacity 12 percent by March.

We have continued to utilize United Express to maintain the depth and breadth of our domestic network, and more flying will be deployed to Express where we feel that the demand matches regional jet economics. And we will be increasing use of the attractive 70-seat regional jets, with their First Class offering.

We have been doing a lot of this work quietly for some time, and we do not expect our customers to sense any significant changes in the domestic offering. Departures per market will decrease by less than 1%, and systemwide capacity will decrease by only about 3%.

And while we have said that we have to take a long realistic look at our staffing levels and where we are uncompetitive, we don't expect that these redeployments will have a material impact on our employees.

But for the viability of our business model, these important changes are fundamental. They allow us to expand our international leadership, to pursue the most profitable routes, to respond aggressively to the challenging market conditions, and to contend with the fundamental shifts in the competitive landscape.

None of this would be possible as we mentioned at the board meeting last week, without a strong operational platform beneath it. And I'm proud to say that you have consistently provided that platform.

These changes are ongoing, and they are certainly not the whole story. But we are moving forward, we are not taking anything for granted, and we will continue to build on our strengths.

Until the next call, keep your heads up, stay focused, and stay United.