An agreement reached between Memphis-based holding company Pinnacle Airlines Corp., its subsidiary Colgan Air Inc., Continental Airlines Inc. and United Air Lines Inc. tweaks the terms of a purchase deal between the parties – and hopefully will be one more step toward avoiding bankruptcy by Pinnacle.

In a regulatory filing, Pinnacle announced it was amending the terms of the parties’ capacity purchase agreement dated Feb. 2, 2007, for an interim period and set out provisions related to possible further modifications and restructuring of the agreement.

The new agreement’s term is between Feb. 1 and April 2. During that period, United will pay certain aircraft ownership expenses and increased rates for Colgan’s provision of regional air services, including services provided by Colgan’s Saab aircraft.

If the parties can’t agree on a long-term deal revising their relationship under the capacity purchase agreement and their agreements beyond the term, United will have the right to choose to modify the number of aircraft Colgan would operate under the agreement after the term expires.

The increases in the rates United will pay Colgan under the tweaked agreement will be structured as an interest-free loan that will be automatically forgiven when the term or modification period expires.

In related news, Pinnacle is still working to cut costs and increase its short- and long-term liquidity. Because of the time and attention focused on that, Pinnacle is still finalizing its fourth quarter and year-end financial results and doesn’t expect releasing those or holding a quarterly earnings conference call until at least some time next month.