If, as is strongly hinted in the industry, AMR Corp (parent of American Airlines) files Chapter 11 bankruptcy today, it should have at least its financing ready to fly.

If any of the airline' three main unions -- pilots, flight attendants, and mechanics -- doesn't ratify the deal the union bosses have tentatively agreed to, the airline would likely head for Court protection, following US Airways (which has since emerged from Chapter 11), United, and Hawaiian (not to mention world's #9, Air Canada, which is under Canadian court protection). The votes' results are due at 11AM Tuesday

If a Chapter 11 filing is the corporate option of choice, AMR would need a line on cash; and it appears there's a billion and a half dollars' waiting, if needed.

The Billion and a Half Deal would come from Citibank, with partners CIT Group Inc., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co Inc., and Merrill Lynch & Co Inc, according to a Reuters story.

If the unions all agree, AMR could conceivably save $1.8 billion in labor costs, which might -- if AMR makes other structural changes, and the air-travel industry doesn't shut down completely -- be the difference between having more US airline capacity operating in Chapter 11, than out of it.

FMI: www.amrcorp.com