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HEDGING ACTIVITIES
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2013
HEDGING ACTIVITIES

NOTE 7—HEDGING ACTIVITIES

Aircraft Fuel Hedges. To protect against increases in the prices of aircraft fuel, the Company routinely hedges a portion of its future fuel requirements. As of September 30, 2013, the Company had hedged approximately 45%, 23% and 1% of its projected fuel requirements (428 million, 901 million and 25 million gallons, respectively) for the remainder of 2013, 2014 and 2015, respectively, with commonly used financial hedge instruments based on aircraft fuel or closely related commodities, such as heating oil, diesel fuel and crude oil. As of September 30, 2013, the Company had fuel hedges expiring through March 2015. The Company does not enter into derivative instruments for non-risk management purposes.

Upon proper qualification, the Company accounts for certain fuel derivative instruments as cash flow hedges. All derivatives designated as hedges that meet certain requirements are granted hedge accounting treatment. The types of instruments the Company utilizes that qualify for special hedge accounting treatment typically include swaps, call options, collars (which consist of a purchased call option and a sold put option) and four-way collars (a collar with a higher strike sold call option and a lower strike purchased put option). Generally, utilizing hedge accounting, all periodic changes in fair value of the derivatives designated as hedges that are considered to be effective are recorded in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) (“AOCI”) until the underlying fuel is consumed and recorded in fuel expense. The Company is exposed to the risk that its hedges may not be effective in offsetting changes in the cost of fuel and that its hedges may not continue to qualify for hedge accounting. Hedge ineffectiveness results when the change in the fair value of the derivative instrument exceeds the change in the value of the Company’s expected future cash outlay to purchase and consume fuel. To the extent that the periodic changes in the fair value of the derivatives are not effective, that ineffectiveness is classified as Nonoperating income (expense): Miscellaneous, net in the statements of consolidated operations.

The Company also utilizes certain derivative instruments that are economic hedges but do not qualify for hedge accounting under U.S. GAAP. As with derivatives that qualify for hedge accounting, the purpose of these economic hedges is to mitigate the adverse financial impact of potential increases in the price of fuel. Currently, the only such economic hedges in the Company’s hedging portfolio are three-way collars (which consist of a collar with a cap on maximum price protection available). The Company records changes in the fair value of three-way collars to Nonoperating income (expense): Miscellaneous, net in the statements of consolidated operations.

If the Company terminates a derivative prior to its contractual settlement date, then the cumulative gain or loss recognized in AOCI at the termination date remains in AOCI until the forecasted transaction occurs. In a situation where it becomes probable that a hedged forecasted transaction will not occur, any gains and/or losses that have been recorded to AOCI would be required to be immediately reclassified into earnings. All cash flows associated with purchasing and settling derivatives are classified as operating cash flows in the condensed statements of consolidated cash flows.

 

The Company records each derivative instrument as a derivative asset or liability (on a gross basis) in its consolidated balance sheets, and, accordingly, records any related collateral on a gross basis.

The following tables present information about the financial statement classification of the Company’s derivatives (in millions):

 

Classification

 

Balance Sheet Location

  September 30, 2013     December 31, 2012  

Derivatives designated as cash flow hedges

     

Assets:

     

Fuel contracts due within one year

  Receivables   $ 23      $ 7   
   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Liabilities:

     

Fuel contracts due within one year

  Current liabilities: Other   $ —        $ 2   
Fuel contracts with maturities greater than one year   Other liabilities and deferred credits: Other     1        —     
   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total liabilities

    $ 1      $ 2   
   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Derivatives not designated for hedge accounting

   

Assets:

     

Fuel contracts due within one year

  Receivables   $ 29      $ 44   
Fuel contracts with maturities greater than one year   Other assets: Other, net     2        —     
   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total assets

    $ 31      $ 44   
   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Liabilities:

     

Fuel contracts due within one year

  Current liabilities: Other   $ —        $ 2   
Fuel contracts with maturities greater than one year   Other liabilities and deferred credits: Other     1        1   
   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total liabilities

    $ 1      $ 3   
   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total derivatives

     

Assets:

     

Fuel contracts due within one year

  Receivables   $ 52      $ 51   
Fuel contracts with maturities greater than one year   Other assets: Other, net     2        —     
   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total assets

    $ 54      $ 51   
   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Liabilities:

     

Fuel contracts due within one year

  Current liabilities: Other   $ —        $ 4   
Fuel contracts with maturities greater than one year   Other liabilities and deferred credits: Other     2        1   
   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total liabilities

    $ 2      $ 5   
   

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

The following tables present the impact of derivative instruments and their location within the Company’s unaudited statements of consolidated operations (in millions):

Derivatives designated as cash flow hedges

 

     Amount of  Gain
Recognized

in AOCI on Derivatives
(Effective Portion)
     Gain (Loss) Reclassified from
AOCI into Fuel Expense
    Amount of Gain
Recognized in Nonoperating
income (expense):
Miscellaneous, net
(Ineffective Portion)
 
     Three Months Ended
September 30,
     Three Months Ended
September 30,
    Three Months Ended
September 30,
 
     2013      2012      2013      2012     2013      2012  

Fuel contracts

   $ 44       $ 133       $ 14       $ (38   $ 1       $ 2   

Derivatives designated as cash flow hedges

 

     Amount of Gain (Loss)
Recognized

in AOCI on Derivatives
(Effective Portion)
    Loss Reclassified from
AOCI into Fuel Expense
    Amount of Loss
Recognized in Nonoperating

income (expense):
Miscellaneous, net
(Ineffective Portion)
 
     Nine Months Ended
September 30,
    Nine Months Ended
September 30,
    Nine Months Ended
September 30,
 
     2013      2012     2013     2012     2013      2012  

Fuel contracts

   $ 16       $ (36   $ (4   $ (107   $ —         $ (2

Derivatives not designated for hedge accounting

 

Fuel contracts

                   
     Three Months Ended September 30,      Nine Months Ended September 30,  
     2013      2012      2013      2012  
Amount of gain recognized in Nonoperating income (expense): Miscellaneous, net    $ 61       $ 10       $ 30       $ 10   

Derivative Credit Risk and Fair Value

The Company is exposed to credit losses in the event of nonperformance by counterparties to its derivative instruments. While the Company records derivative instruments on a gross basis, the Company monitors its net derivative position with each counterparty to monitor credit risk. Based on the fair value of our fuel derivative instruments, our counterparties may require us to post collateral when the price of the underlying commodity decreases, and we may require our counterparties to provide us with collateral when the price of the underlying commodity increases. The following table presents information related to the Company’s derivative credit risk as of September 30, 2013 (in millions):

 

Net derivative asset with counterparties

   $ 52   

Collateral held by the Company (classified as an other current liability)

     —     

Potential loss related to the failure of the Company’s counterparties to perform

     52