North Korea often uses its military threats to obtain concessions.
The guidelines for the guarantees give preference to applicants that obtain concessions from creditors and employees.
Mr. Cunningham acknowledged that the administration had yet to obtain concessions, and warned that City Hall's conciliatory tone could change.
United, which filed for bankruptcy in December 2002, has already obtained concessions worth $2.5 billion a year from its unions.
The franchise agreements, essentially licenses that allow the companies to use city streets and property to build and maintain their cable networks, are often used to obtain concessions.
Last year, United, a unit of UAL, obtained concessions worth $2.5 billion a year in savings from its unions, a few months after it sought bankruptcy protection.
Mr. Tilton failed to obtain concessions from United's mechanics, who were the only holdouts in the airline's bid for employee backing of its recovery plan.
The company and the unions agreed to that figure last week, but executives must negotiate separately with each union to obtain concessions.
In July, the Air Transportation Stabilization Board, which administers the program, granted the loan guarantee, but with conditions, one of which was obtaining concessions from labor.
United and US Airways obtained concessions from their employees after filing for bankruptcy protection last year, while American's unions granted wage and benefit cuts in the face of the airline's threat to do so.
