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Commitments and Contingencies | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2016
Commitments and Contingencies | NOTE 15 - COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES Commitments. As of December 31, 2016, United had firm commitments and options to purchase aircraft from The Boeing Company (“Boeing”), Embraer and Airbus presented in the table below:
Aircraft Type |  | Number of Firm Commitments (a) |
Airbus A350-1000 |  |  | 35 |
Boeing 737NG/737MAX |  |  | 165 |
Boeing 777-300ER |  |  | 12 |
Boeing 787-8/-9/-10 |  |  | 21 |
Embraer E175 |  |  | 24 |
(a) United also has options and purchase rights for additional aircraft. |
The aircraft listed in the table above are scheduled for delivery from 2017 through 2027. To the extent the Company and the aircraft manufacturers with whom the Company has existing orders for new aircraft agree to modify the contracts governing those orders, the amount and timing of the Company’s future capital commitments could change. The table below summarizes United’s commitments as of December 31, 2016, which primarily relate to the acquisition of aircraft and related spare engines, aircraft improvements and include other capital purchase commitments for the years ended December 31 (in billions). Any new firm aircraft orders, including through the exercise of purchase options and purchase rights, will increase the total future capital commitments of the Company.
2017 |  | $ | 4.5 |
2018 |  |  | 3.2 |
2019 |  |  | 3.1 |
2020 |  |  | 2.5 |
2021 |  |  | 2.2 |
After 2021 |  |  | 7.8 |
|  | $ | 23.3 |
In the first quarter of 2017, the Company announced that it will retire its fleet of Boeing 747 aircraft from scheduled service by the end of 2017. The Company does not expect there to be a material impact to depreciation and amortization expense. As of December 31, 2016, United had $1.3 billion in financing available through EETC transactions for the financing of all of its aircraft deliveries scheduled in the first half of 2017. See Note 11 of this report for additional information on aircraft financing. The Company has also secured backstop financing commitments from certain of its aircraft manufacturers for a limited number of its future aircraft deliveries, subject to certain customary conditions. Financing may be necessary to satisfy the Company’s capital commitments for its firm order aircraft and other related capital expenditures. Legal and Environmental. The Company has certain contingencies resulting from litigation and claims incident to the ordinary course of business. As of December 31, 2016, management believes, after considering a number of factors, including (but not limited to) the information currently available, the views of legal counsel, the nature of contingencies to which the Company is subject and prior experience, that the ultimate disposition of the litigation and claims will not materially affect the Company’s consolidated financial position or results of operations. The Company records liabilities for legal and environmental claims when a loss is probable and reasonably estimable. These amounts are recorded based on the Company’s assessments of the likelihood of their eventual disposition. Guarantees and Indemnifications. In the normal course of business, the Company enters into numerous real estate leasing and aircraft financing arrangements that have various guarantees included in the contracts. These guarantees are primarily in the form of indemnities under which the Company typically indemnifies the lessors and any tax/financing parties against tort liabilities that arise out of the use, occupancy, operation or maintenance of the leased premises or financed aircraft. Currently, the Company believes that any future payments required under these guarantees or indemnities would be immaterial, as most tort liabilities and related indemnities are covered by insurance (subject to deductibles). Additionally, certain leased premises such as fueling stations or storage facilities include indemnities of such parties for any environmental liability that may arise out of or relate to the use of the leased premises. As of December 31, 2016, United is the guarantor of approximately $1.9 billion in aggregate principal amount of tax-exempt special facilities revenue bonds and interest thereon. These bonds, issued by various airport municipalities, are payable solely from rentals paid under long-term agreements with the respective governing bodies. The leasing arrangements associated with $1.4 billion of these obligations are accounted for as operating leases with the associated expense recorded on a straight-line basis resulting in ratable accrual of the lease obligation over the expected lease term. These tax-exempt special facilities revenue bonds are included in our lease commitments disclosed in Note 13 of this report. The leasing arrangements associated with $400 million of these obligations are accounted for as capital leases. All of these bonds are due between 2017 and 2038. In United’s financing transactions that include loans, United typically agrees to reimburse lenders for any reduced returns with respect to the loans due to any change in capital requirements and, in the case of loans in which the interest rate is based on LIBOR, for certain other increased costs that the lenders incur in carrying these loans as a result of any change in law, subject, in most cases, to obligations of the lenders to take certain limited steps to mitigate the requirement for, or the amount of, such increased costs. At December 31, 2016, the Company had $2.6 billion of floating rate debt and $90 million of fixed rate debt, with remaining terms of up to 12 years, that are subject to these increased cost provisions. In several financing transactions involving loans or leases from non-U.S. entities, with remaining terms of up to 12 years and an aggregate balance of $2.6 billion, the Company bears the risk of any change in tax laws that would subject loan or lease payments thereunder to non-U.S. entities to withholding taxes, subject to customary exclusions. As of December 31, 2016, United is the guarantor of $168 million of aircraft mortgage debt issued by one of United’s regional carriers. The aircraft mortgage debt is subject to similar increased cost provisions as described above for the Company’s debt and the Company would potentially be responsible for those costs under the guarantees. Fuel Consortia. United participates in numerous fuel consortia with other air carriers at major airports to reduce the costs of fuel distribution and storage. Interline agreements govern the rights and responsibilities of the consortia members and provide for the allocation of the overall costs to operate the consortia based on usage. The consortia (and in limited cases, the participating carriers) have entered into long-term agreements to lease certain airport fuel storage and distribution facilities that are typically financed through tax-exempt bonds (either special facilities lease revenue bonds or general airport revenue bonds), issued by various local municipalities. In general, each consortium lease agreement requires the consortium to make lease payments in amounts sufficient to pay the maturing principal and interest payments on the bonds. As of December 31, 2016, approximately $1.5 billion principal amount of such bonds were secured by significant fuel facility leases in which United participates, as to which United and each of the signatory airlines has provided indirect guarantees of the debt. As of December 31, 2016, the Company’s contingent exposure was approximately $234 million principal amount of such bonds based on its recent consortia participation. The Company’s contingent exposure could increase if the participation of other air carriers decreases. The guarantees will expire when the tax-exempt bonds are paid in full, which ranges from 2017 to 2049. The Company did not record a liability at the time these indirect guarantees were made. Regional Capacity Purchase. As of December 31, 2016, United had 223 call options to purchase regional jet aircraft being operated by certain regional carriers. At December 31, 2016, none of the call options were exercisable because none of the required conditions to make an option exercisable by United was met. Credit Card Processing Agreements. The Company has agreements with financial institutions that process customer credit card transactions for the sale of air travel and other services. Under certain of the Company’s credit card processing agreements, the financial institutions in certain circumstances have the right to require that the Company maintain a reserve equal to a portion of advance ticket sales that has been processed by that financial institution, but for which the Company has not yet provided the air transportation. Such financial institutions may require additional cash or other collateral reserves to be established or additional withholding of payments related to receivables collected if the Company does not maintain certain minimum levels of unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments (collectively, “Unrestricted Liquidity”). The Company’s current level of Unrestricted Liquidity is substantially in excess of these minimum levels. Labor Negotiations. As of December 31, 2016, United, including its subsidiaries, had approximately 88,000 employees. Approximately 80% of United’s employees were represented by various U.S. labor organizations as of December 31, 2016. In January 2016, United’s pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, International (“ALPA”), agreed to extend their contract through January 31, 2019. In March 2016, the Company’s dispatchers, represented by the Professional Airline Flight Control Association, agreed to extend their current contract through 2021. In April 2016, the fleet service, passenger service, storekeeper and other employees represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (“IAM”) ratified seven new contracts with the Company which extended the contracts through 2021. In August 2016, United’s flight attendants, represented by the AFA, ratified a five-year joint collective bargaining agreement through 2021. In December 2016, the technicians and related employees, represented by the IBT, ratified a six-year joint collective bargaining agreement which extended the contract through 2022. The agreements with ALPA and IBT contain provisions that require the Company to align contract terms with other airlines’ workgroups under certain conditions.

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