United Airlines suffers loan blow

United Airlines has lost its bid for £1bn (€1.5bn) in US government loan guarantees, in a blow to the second-largest American airline as it tries to emerge from bankruptcy.

It is the second time that the Air Transportation Stabilisation Board has turned down the cash-strapped company.

Two members of the board – Treasury Department’s undersecretary for domestic finance, Brian Roseboro, and Federal Reserve member Edward Gramlich – voted yesterday to deny the company’s request. The third member, Jeffrey Shane, an undersecretary at the Transportation Department, voted to defer a decision for one week.