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Leases and Capacity Purchase Agreements
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2023
Leases [Abstract]  
LEASES AND CAPACITY PURCHASE AGREEMENTS 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, among other items. Certain of these leases include provisions for variable lease payments which are based on several factors, including, but not limited to, relative leased square footage, available seat miles, enplaned passengers, passenger facility charges, terminal equipment usage fees, departures, and airports' annual operating budgets. Due to the variable nature of the rates, these leases are not recorded on our balance sheet as a right-of-use asset and lease liability.
For leases with terms greater than 12 months, we record the related right-of-use asset and lease liability at the present value of fixed lease payments over the lease term. To the extent a lease agreement includes an extension option that is reasonably certain to be exercised, we have recognized those amounts as part of our right-of-use assets and lease liabilities. Leases with an initial term of 12 months or less with purchase options or extension options that are not reasonably certain to be exercised are not recorded on the balance sheet; we recognize lease expense for these leases on a straight-line basis over the term of the lease. We combine lease and non-lease components, such as common area maintenance costs, in calculating the right-of-use assets and lease liabilities for all asset groups except for our CPAs, which contain embedded leases for regional aircraft. In addition to the lease component cost for regional aircraft, our CPAs also include non-lease components primarily related to the regional carriers' operating costs incurred in providing regional aircraft services. We allocate consideration for the lease components and non-lease components of each CPA based on their relative standalone values.
Lease Cost. The Company's lease cost for the years ended December 31 included the following components (in millions):
202320222021
Operating lease cost$925 $941 $958 
Variable and short-term lease cost3,028 2,603 2,291 
Amortization of finance lease assets52 72 89 
Interest on finance lease liabilities20 13 16 
Sublease income(39)(33)(26)
Total lease cost$3,986 $3,596 $3,328 
Lease terms and commitments. United's leases include aircraft leases for aircraft that are directly leased by United and aircraft that are operated by regional carriers on United's behalf under CPAs (but excluding aircraft owned by United) and non-aircraft leases. Aircraft operating leases relate to leases of 70 mainline and 275 regional aircraft while finance leases relate to leases of 22 mainline and 13 regional aircraft. United's aircraft leases have remaining lease terms of 1 month to 12 years with expiration dates ranging from 2024 through 2035. Under the terms of most aircraft 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 a percentage of cost.
In addition, United also has 42 leases of Boeing 737 MAX and Boeing 787 aircraft under various sale-leaseback transactions. These transactions did not qualify as a sale under Accounting Standards Codification Topic 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers ("ASC Topic 606"), and, as such, the associated aircraft remain on the Company's consolidated balance sheet as part of Flight equipment. The related obligations are recorded in Current maturities of other financial liabilities and Other financial liabilities.
Non-aircraft leases have remaining lease terms of 1 month to 29 years.
The table below summarizes the Company's scheduled future minimum lease payments under operating and finance leases, recorded on the balance sheet, as of December 31, 2023 (in millions):
Operating LeasesFinance Leases
2024$813 $183 
2025726 60 
2026706 19 
2027885 9 
2028685 8 
After 20282,942 5 
Minimum lease payments6,757 284 
Imputed interest(1,678)(21)
Present value of minimum lease payments5,079 263 
Less: current maturities of lease obligations(576)(172)
Long-term lease obligations$4,503 $91 
As of December 31, 2023, we have additional leases of approximately $1.6 billion for several regional aircraft under CPAs, mainline aircraft, airport facility and office space leases, none of which had commenced as of such date. These leases will commence between 2024 and 2026 with lease terms of up to 12 years.
The table below presents the Company's contractual payments at December 31, 2023 under then-outstanding sale and leaseback agreements, for transactions that did not qualify as a sale under ASC Topic 606, in each of the next five calendar years (in millions):
Other Financial Liabilities
2024$178 
2025178 
2026178 
2027472 
2028147 
After 20282,090 
3,243 
Imputed interest(921)
Current maturities of other financial liabilities(57)
Other financial liabilities$2,265 
Our lease agreements do not provide a readily determinable implicit rate nor is it available to us from our lessors. Instead, we estimate United's incremental borrowing rate based on information available at lease commencement in order to discount lease payments to present value. The table below presents additional information related to our leases as of December 31:
20232022
Weighted-average remaining lease term - operating leases10 years10 years
Weighted-average remaining lease term - finance leases2 years3 years
Weighted-average remaining lease term - other financial liabilities10 years9 years
Weighted-average discount rate - operating leases5.8 %5.5 %
Weighted-average discount rate - finance leases6.3 %6.4 %
Weighted-average interest rate - other financial liabilities5.3 %6.0 %
The table below presents supplemental cash flow information related to leases during the year ended December 31 (in millions):
202320222021
Cash paid for amounts included in the measurement of lease liabilities:
Operating cash flows for operating leases$874 $919 $977 
Operating cash flows for finance leases21 13 18 
Financing cash flows for finance leases311 124 216 
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 rate adjustment based on agreed performance metrics, subject to annual adjustments. The fees are based on specific rates multiplied by specific operating statistics (e.g., block hours, departures), as well as fixed monthly amounts. Under these CPAs, the Company is also 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. In some cases, the Company owns some or all of the aircraft subject to the CPA and leases such aircraft to the regional carrier. United's CPAs are for 413 regional aircraft as of December 31, 2023, and the CPAs have terms expiring through 2035. Aircraft operated under CPAs include aircraft leased directly from the regional carriers and those owned by United and operated by the regional carriers. See Part I, Item 2. Properties, of this report for additional information.
United recorded approximately $1.1 billion, $0.9 billion and $0.6 billion in expenses related to its CPAs with its regional carriers in which United is a minority shareholder, for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. United had prepaid balances and notes receivables with combined carrying values of $84 million and $62 million with these companies, as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. There were $122 million and $118 million of liabilities due to these companies as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. The CPAs with these related parties were executed in the ordinary course of business.
In 2023, United amended several of its CPAs with certain of its regional carriers to increase the contractually agreed fees (carrier costs) paid to those carriers and to add additional aircraft that will replace existing aircraft near the end of their contractual terms. Separately, the Company terminated its CPA and related regional flight operations with Air Wisconsin in June 2023.
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. The actual amounts we pay to our regional operators under CPAs could differ materially from these estimates. 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 operating leases above. 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 recent 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, 2023, our estimated future payments through the end of the terms of our CPAs are presented in the table below (in billions):
2024$2.4 
20252.1 
20262.1 
20271.6 
20281.3 
After 20284.1 
$13.6 
In January 2024, United amended several of its CPAs with certain of its regional carriers. These amendments will result in an increase to its future commitments under its CPAs by approximately $0.6 billion.
LEASES AND CAPACITY PURCHASE AGREEMENTS 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, among other items. Certain of these leases include provisions for variable lease payments which are based on several factors, including, but not limited to, relative leased square footage, available seat miles, enplaned passengers, passenger facility charges, terminal equipment usage fees, departures, and airports' annual operating budgets. Due to the variable nature of the rates, these leases are not recorded on our balance sheet as a right-of-use asset and lease liability.
For leases with terms greater than 12 months, we record the related right-of-use asset and lease liability at the present value of fixed lease payments over the lease term. To the extent a lease agreement includes an extension option that is reasonably certain to be exercised, we have recognized those amounts as part of our right-of-use assets and lease liabilities. Leases with an initial term of 12 months or less with purchase options or extension options that are not reasonably certain to be exercised are not recorded on the balance sheet; we recognize lease expense for these leases on a straight-line basis over the term of the lease. We combine lease and non-lease components, such as common area maintenance costs, in calculating the right-of-use assets and lease liabilities for all asset groups except for our CPAs, which contain embedded leases for regional aircraft. In addition to the lease component cost for regional aircraft, our CPAs also include non-lease components primarily related to the regional carriers' operating costs incurred in providing regional aircraft services. We allocate consideration for the lease components and non-lease components of each CPA based on their relative standalone values.
Lease Cost. The Company's lease cost for the years ended December 31 included the following components (in millions):
202320222021
Operating lease cost$925 $941 $958 
Variable and short-term lease cost3,028 2,603 2,291 
Amortization of finance lease assets52 72 89 
Interest on finance lease liabilities20 13 16 
Sublease income(39)(33)(26)
Total lease cost$3,986 $3,596 $3,328 
Lease terms and commitments. United's leases include aircraft leases for aircraft that are directly leased by United and aircraft that are operated by regional carriers on United's behalf under CPAs (but excluding aircraft owned by United) and non-aircraft leases. Aircraft operating leases relate to leases of 70 mainline and 275 regional aircraft while finance leases relate to leases of 22 mainline and 13 regional aircraft. United's aircraft leases have remaining lease terms of 1 month to 12 years with expiration dates ranging from 2024 through 2035. Under the terms of most aircraft 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 a percentage of cost.
In addition, United also has 42 leases of Boeing 737 MAX and Boeing 787 aircraft under various sale-leaseback transactions. These transactions did not qualify as a sale under Accounting Standards Codification Topic 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers ("ASC Topic 606"), and, as such, the associated aircraft remain on the Company's consolidated balance sheet as part of Flight equipment. The related obligations are recorded in Current maturities of other financial liabilities and Other financial liabilities.
Non-aircraft leases have remaining lease terms of 1 month to 29 years.
The table below summarizes the Company's scheduled future minimum lease payments under operating and finance leases, recorded on the balance sheet, as of December 31, 2023 (in millions):
Operating LeasesFinance Leases
2024$813 $183 
2025726 60 
2026706 19 
2027885 9 
2028685 8 
After 20282,942 5 
Minimum lease payments6,757 284 
Imputed interest(1,678)(21)
Present value of minimum lease payments5,079 263 
Less: current maturities of lease obligations(576)(172)
Long-term lease obligations$4,503 $91 
As of December 31, 2023, we have additional leases of approximately $1.6 billion for several regional aircraft under CPAs, mainline aircraft, airport facility and office space leases, none of which had commenced as of such date. These leases will commence between 2024 and 2026 with lease terms of up to 12 years.
The table below presents the Company's contractual payments at December 31, 2023 under then-outstanding sale and leaseback agreements, for transactions that did not qualify as a sale under ASC Topic 606, in each of the next five calendar years (in millions):
Other Financial Liabilities
2024$178 
2025178 
2026178 
2027472 
2028147 
After 20282,090 
3,243 
Imputed interest(921)
Current maturities of other financial liabilities(57)
Other financial liabilities$2,265 
Our lease agreements do not provide a readily determinable implicit rate nor is it available to us from our lessors. Instead, we estimate United's incremental borrowing rate based on information available at lease commencement in order to discount lease payments to present value. The table below presents additional information related to our leases as of December 31:
20232022
Weighted-average remaining lease term - operating leases10 years10 years
Weighted-average remaining lease term - finance leases2 years3 years
Weighted-average remaining lease term - other financial liabilities10 years9 years
Weighted-average discount rate - operating leases5.8 %5.5 %
Weighted-average discount rate - finance leases6.3 %6.4 %
Weighted-average interest rate - other financial liabilities5.3 %6.0 %
The table below presents supplemental cash flow information related to leases during the year ended December 31 (in millions):
202320222021
Cash paid for amounts included in the measurement of lease liabilities:
Operating cash flows for operating leases$874 $919 $977 
Operating cash flows for finance leases21 13 18 
Financing cash flows for finance leases311 124 216 
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 rate adjustment based on agreed performance metrics, subject to annual adjustments. The fees are based on specific rates multiplied by specific operating statistics (e.g., block hours, departures), as well as fixed monthly amounts. Under these CPAs, the Company is also 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. In some cases, the Company owns some or all of the aircraft subject to the CPA and leases such aircraft to the regional carrier. United's CPAs are for 413 regional aircraft as of December 31, 2023, and the CPAs have terms expiring through 2035. Aircraft operated under CPAs include aircraft leased directly from the regional carriers and those owned by United and operated by the regional carriers. See Part I, Item 2. Properties, of this report for additional information.
United recorded approximately $1.1 billion, $0.9 billion and $0.6 billion in expenses related to its CPAs with its regional carriers in which United is a minority shareholder, for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. United had prepaid balances and notes receivables with combined carrying values of $84 million and $62 million with these companies, as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. There were $122 million and $118 million of liabilities due to these companies as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. The CPAs with these related parties were executed in the ordinary course of business.
In 2023, United amended several of its CPAs with certain of its regional carriers to increase the contractually agreed fees (carrier costs) paid to those carriers and to add additional aircraft that will replace existing aircraft near the end of their contractual terms. Separately, the Company terminated its CPA and related regional flight operations with Air Wisconsin in June 2023.
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. The actual amounts we pay to our regional operators under CPAs could differ materially from these estimates. 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 operating leases above. 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 recent 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, 2023, our estimated future payments through the end of the terms of our CPAs are presented in the table below (in billions):
2024$2.4 
20252.1 
20262.1 
20271.6 
20281.3 
After 20284.1 
$13.6 
In January 2024, United amended several of its CPAs with certain of its regional carriers. These amendments will result in an increase to its future commitments under its CPAs by approximately $0.6 billion.