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Leases and Capacity Purchase Agreements | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2017
Leases and Capacity Purchase Agreements | NOTE 11 - LEASES AND CAPACITY PURCHASE AGREEMENTS United leases aircraft, airport passenger terminal space, aircraft hangars and related maintenance facilities, cargo terminals, other airport facilities, other commercial real estate, office and computer equipment and vehicles. At December 31, 2017, United’s scheduled future minimum lease payments under operating leases having initial or remaining noncancelable lease terms of more than one year, aircraft leases, including aircraft rent under CPAs and capital leases (substantially all of which are for aircraft) were as follows (in millions):
|  | Capital Leases (a) |  |  | Facility and Other Operating Leases |  |  | Aircraft Operating Leases |
2018 |  | $ | 200 |  |  | $ | 1,234 |  |  | $ | 1,038 |
2019 |  |  | 133 |  |  |  | 1,075 |  |  |  | 855 |
2020 |  |  | 113 |  |  |  | 1,169 |  |  |  | 628 |
2021 |  |  | 110 |  |  |  | 935 |  |  |  | 510 |
2022 |  |  | 105 |  |  |  | 797 |  |  |  | 388 |
After 2022 |  |  | 1,156 |  |  |  | 6,109 |  |  |  | 1,513 |
Minimum lease payments |  | $ | 1,817 |  |  | $ | 11,319 |  |  | $ | 4,932 |
Imputed interest |  |  | (693) |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Present value of minimum lease payments |  |  | 1,124 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Current portion |  |  | (128) |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Long-term obligations under capital leases |  | $ | 996 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
(a) Includes airport construction projects managed by United in which United has construction risk, including project cost overruns. The Company recorded an asset for project costs and a related liability equal to project costs funded by parties other than United. As of December 31, 2017, United had an asset balance of $814 million recorded in operating property and equipment and $777 million recorded in current and long-term obligations under capital leases for these airport construction projects. As of December 31, 2017, United’s aircraft capital lease minimum payments relate to leases of 31 mainline and 43 regional aircraft as well as to leases of nonaircraft assets. Imputed interest rate ranges are 3.5% to 20.8%. Aircraft operating leases have initial terms of five to 26 years, with expiration dates ranging from 2018 through 2029. Under the terms of most leases, United has the right to purchase the aircraft at the end of the lease term, in some cases, at fair market value, and in others, at fair market value or a percentage of cost. During 2015, the Company reached an agreement with AerCap Holdings N.V., a major aircraft leasing company, to lease used Airbus S.A.S (“Airbus”) A319s. Eleven aircraft have been delivered since the inception of this agreement, and seven more aircraft are expected to be delivered between 2019 and 2020. In addition, United has options for seven more A319 aircraft, subject to certain conditions. United is the lessee of real property under long-term operating leases at a number of airports where we are also the guarantor of approximately $1.4 billion of underlying debt and interest thereon as of December 31, 2017. These leases are typically with municipalities or other governmental entities, which are excluded from the consolidation requirements concerning a variable interest entity (“VIE”). To the extent United’s leases and related guarantees are with a separate legal entity other than a governmental entity, United is not the primary beneficiary because the lease terms are consistent with market terms at the inception of the lease and the lease does not include a residual value guarantee, fixed-price purchase option, or similar feature. United has facility operating leases that extend to 2054. United’s nonaircraft rent expense was approximately $1.3 billion, $1.2 billion and $1.3 billion for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively. In addition to nonaircraft rent and aircraft rent, which is separately presented in the consolidated statements of operations, United had aircraft rent related to regional aircraft operating leases, which is included as part of Regional capacity purchase expense in United’s consolidated statement of operations, of $458 million, $439 million and $461 million for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively. In connection with UAL Corporation’s and United Air Lines, Inc.’s (predecessors to UAL and United) fresh-start reporting requirements upon their exit from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2006 and the Company’s acquisition accounting adjustments related to the Company’s merger transaction in 2010, lease valuation adjustments for operating leases were initially recorded in the consolidated balance sheet, representing the net present value of the differences between contractual lease rates and the fair market lease rates for similar leased assets at the time. An asset (liability) results when the contractual lease rates are more (less) favorable than market lease terms at the valuation date. The lease valuation adjustment is amortized on a straight-line basis as an increase (decrease) to rent expense over the individual applicable remaining lease terms, resulting in recognition of rent expense as if United had entered into the leases at market rates. The related remaining lease terms, primarily related to aircraft which make up the majority of the fair value lease adjustment balance, are one to seven years for United. The lease valuation adjustments are classified within other noncurrent liabilities and the net accretion amounts are $79 million, $82 million and $107 million for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively. Regional CPAs United has contractual relationships with various regional carriers to provide regional aircraft service branded as United Express. Under these CPAs, the Company pays the regional carriers contractually agreed fees (carrier costs) for operating these flights plus a variable reimbursement (incentive payment for operational performance) based on agreed performance metrics, subject to annual inflation adjustments. The fees for carrier costs are based on specific rates for various operating expenses of the regional carriers, such as crew expenses, maintenance and aircraft ownership, some of which are multiplied by specific operating statistics (e.g., block hours, departures), while others are fixed monthly amounts. Under these CPAs, the Company is responsible for all fuel costs incurred, as well as landing fees and other costs, which are either passed through by the regional carrier to the Company without any markup or directly incurred by the Company. United’s CPAs are for 518 regional aircraft as of December 31, 2017, and the CPAs have terms expiring through 2029. Aircraft operated under CPAs include aircraft leased directly from the regional carriers and those owned by United or leased from third-party lessors and operated by the regional carriers. See Part I, Item 2, Properties, of this report for additional information. In 2017, United entered into a five-year CPA with Air Wisconsin Airlines for regional service under the United Express brand to operate up to 65 CRJ200 aircraft. In addition, United extended the term of its existing CPA with ExpressJet Airlines to operate up to approximately 125 aircraft through December 31, 2022. In January 2018, United removed all Bombardier Q200 turboprop aircraft and Embraer ERJ 135 aircraft from service. United holds a minority equity interest in two of its regional carriers, Champlain Enterprises, Inc. and Republic Airways Holdings, Inc. The contracts with these related parties are executed in the ordinary course of business. United recorded approximately $538 million, $486 million and $366 million in expenses related to its capacity purchase agreements with these regional carriers for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively. There were approximately $24 million and $32 million in accounts payable due to these companies as of December 31, 2017 and December 31, 2016, respectively. There were no material accounts receivable due from these companies as of December 31, 2017 and December 31, 2016. Our future commitments under our CPAs are dependent on numerous variables, and are, therefore, difficult to predict. The most important of these variables is the number of scheduled block hours. Although we are not required to purchase a minimum number of block hours under certain of our CPAs, we have set forth below estimates of our future payments under the CPAs based on our assumptions. United’s estimates of its future payments under all of the CPAs do not include the portion of the underlying obligation for any aircraft leased to a regional carrier or deemed to be leased from other regional carriers and facility rent that are disclosed as part of aircraft and nonaircraft operating leases. For purposes of calculating these estimates, we have assumed (1) the number of block hours flown is based on our anticipated level of flight activity or at any contractual minimum utilization levels if applicable, whichever is higher, (2) that we will reduce the fleet as rapidly as contractually allowed under each CPA, (3) that aircraft utilization, stage length and load factors will remain constant, (4) that each carrier’s operational performance will remain at historic levels and (5) an annual projected inflation rate. These amounts exclude variable pass-through costs such as fuel and landing fees, among others. Based on these assumptions as of December 31, 2017, our future payments through the end of the terms of our CPAs are presented in the table below (in billions):
2018 |  | $ | 2.0 |
2019 |  |  | 1.8 |
2020 |  |  | 1.6 |
2021 |  |  | 1.5 |
2022 |  |  | 1.4 |
After 2022 |  |  | 3.2 |
|  | $ | 11.5 |
The actual amounts we pay to our regional operators under CPAs could differ materially from these estimates. For example, a 10% increase or decrease in scheduled block hours for all of United’s regional operators (whether as a result of changes in average daily utilization or otherwise) in 2018 would result in a corresponding change in annual cash obligations under the CPAs of approximately $147 million.

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- Definition The entire disclosure for lessee entity's leasing arrangements including, but not limited to, all of the following: (a.) The basis on which contingent rental payments are determined, (b.) The existence and terms of renewal or purchase options and escalation clauses, (c.) Restrictions imposed by lease agreements, such as those concerning dividends, additional debt, and further leasing. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 842 -SubTopic 20 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/subtopic&trid=77888251 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 840 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/topic&trid=2208923 + Details
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