It's Wednesday, May 11th, and I'm calling from Chicago.

As I am sure you all know by now, yesterday at the Bankruptcy Court hearing in Chicago, Judge Wedoff approved the settlement agreement under which the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation may initiate the termination of all of United's defined benefit pension plans.

I want to talk to you in more detail about this difficult but necessary decision on this call. However, I think it's important to put the decision into the context of where we are today.

We have spent the past two years putting our financial and operational house in order. We have accomplished a great deal, and we have defied the dire predictions of many, including those who would have benefited from our failure. And we have given our customers the service they expect and they deserve.

Simply said, we are doing much better work than this company has done for a very long time. And we are by no means done.

As you know from our call last week, Pete McDonald and John Tague have initiated a series of meetings with employees across the system to talk about our progress to date and the opportunities that we have ahead of us.

John and Pete are going to be in California this week to conduct meetings in San Francisco and in Los Angeles.

They are going to be talking about your performance -- the operational performance, customer service performance and the financial platform that you are helping to build ... and they tell this story in a way few people outside the company would have imagined possible:

Our operations and quality of service are better than ever. Our on-time performance is dramatically improved -- in fact, the Department of Transportation tells us that we have the best arrival on-time :14 performance of any of our competitors for the last 12 months. Our costs are down and revenue performance is up.

The first quarter financial results that we released today show the progress that we are making. In an extremely tough environment, we were cash flow positive, made significant progress in reducing costs and improved revenue performance, driven by our shift to international markets.

You should be very proud of this work. Every person in this company knows how hard it has been.

We have re-established our credibility. We have re-established our reputation for dependability with our customers and with the business community at large.

We must maintain that momentum, especially now.

Although there is much more work still to do, we are nearing our restructuring objective to emerge from Chapter 11 as a viable and sustainable United Airlines.

Judge Wedoff's decision was a part of that work, even though, as the judge himself said, it may be painful. The termination and the replacement of pensions is not the outcome that we would have hoped for. In fact, we spent many months searching for alternatives, but none were found. I know just how serious the impact of this decision is for all of you.

But I also want to make it clear that the termination of the plans does not mean that no benefits will be paid. It means that the PBGC would assume the responsibility for making payments to all eligible plan participants. Eligible employees will get a PBGC pension, in addition to, as well as, a replacement plan negotiated with unions where appropriate.

The entire industry has changed; this company must change as well, providing our employees competitive wages and benefits that are in line with market realities today and in the future.

We are building a solid foundation that is opening opportunities for success and growth.

Competing from a solid financial base is the only way forward for United Airlines.

As I wrap up the call today, I want to once again say that I am always impressed by the choice so many of you across the system make every day to maintain your personal focus on our customers.

Thanks again to all of you for that commitment.

That's all for now. Until the next call, stay United.