Executive declares Dec. 2 bankruptcy deadline

United Airlines must pull together its plan to overhaul the company by Dec. 2, including a federal loan guarantee package, to avoid filing for bankruptcy protection, the airline's chief executive, Glenn F. Tilton, said Wednesday.

The date represented a tighter timetable than Wall Street analysts had projected, and it heightened the urgency of the airline's pursuit of efforts to remain solvent.

In his first comments about United's financial challenges, Tilton insisted that the overhaul had "a very good prospect of success," and he rebutted predictions by analysts that the airline's chances of filing for bankruptcy protection are now 95 percent or more because of its rapidly depleting cash.

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