United Airlines loses $542 million in 1Q

United Airlines just reported a massive first quarter loss of $542 million. From AP:

The Chicago-based company says it will cut another $200 million, including eliminating 500 salaried and management jobs and 600 other jobs by year's end. UAL also says it will cut capacity 9 percent by the fourth quarter and take 30 aircraft out of its operating fleet.

No wonder United added $50 to their change fee and brought back the Saturday night stay requirement for many routes last Friday.  They are bleeding cash.  Fast.

From skimming the detailed report available on united.com, it looks like operating cash flow negative by $80 million and free cash flow negative by $181 million. Perhaps the only good news is that they are reporting that they still have ~3 billion in unrestricted cash and short term investments. 

I think they need a better strategy for dealing with high fuel than just relying on merging. Cutting capacity and labor costs by the fourth quarter is great and all.  But I'm thinking next week would be better for the bank account.