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September 22,
2005
Airlines
id='1'>UAL
CEO Urges Completion of Airline Deregulation
United Airlines CEO
Glenn
Tilton called for the completion of U.S. airline deregulation
yesterday, saying
that without it American carriers risked being marginalized by Europe
and Asia,
Reuters reported yesterday. Tilton, addressing a business luncheon in
Los Angeles,
said that United, the bankrupt No. 2 U.S. carrier, would emerge from
chapter
11 next year in a much stronger position to seize growth opportunities
in the
future. But no matter how well United or any of the other major U.S.
carriers
currently in bankruptcy proceedings transform their businesses, they
would be
hampered as global competitors without a change in the regulatory
environment,
he said.
href='http://chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=17854%20'>Read
the full story.
id='2'>Delta
to Cut 9,000 Jobs
Delta Air Lines
Inc. said
today that it plans to eliminate up to 9,000 jobs, or 17 percent of
its workforce,
by the end of 2007 as part of a plan to save $3 billion as it seeks to
revive
itself in bankruptcy, according to Reuters reports. Delta also said
that it
hopes to save $930 million by cutting employment costs and overhead,
and boosting
productivity, with pilots to absorb $325 million of the cuts and $605
million
coming from the rest of its workforce
id='3'>Southwest
Keeps Edge Over Competitors
Southwest Airlines
Co. expects
to be able to keep its cost advantage over most U.S. rivals even as
bankruptcy
gives them greater latitude to cut their own expenses, Reuters
reported yesterday.
Southwest CEO Gary Kelly painted a rosy picture of both costs and
revenues at
the top U.S. carrier by market value, which has prospered relative to
competitors
because of its ample hedges protecting it from high fuel costs.
Southwest shares
were up 19 cents, or 1.3 percent, at $14.39 in morning trading on the
NYSE,
the sole U.S. airline in positive territory. JP Morgan yesterday
raised its
recommendation on Southwest to "overweight," while Citigroup
started
coverage of the airline with a "buy" recommendation.
href='http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticleSearch.aspx?storyID=206643%2B2…'>Read
more.
id='4'>Giuliani’s
Firm Gets $400,000 a Month for Delta Bankruptcy
Delta Air Lines
Inc. has
paid former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s consulting
firm $2.4 million,
and expects to pay it another $400,000 per month for advice on working
through
chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, the Fulton County Daily
Report said
today. The bills to Giuliani Capital Advisors were disclosed in papers
that
the airline filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York. The
capital group
was started last year when parent company Giuliani Partners acquired
the corporate
finance practice of Ernst & Young, which has experience with
airline restructurings.
The Giuliani team is one of many that Delta has retained to provide
bankruptcy
work, according to court filings.
href='http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1127293512542'>Read
the full story.
id='5'>WorldCom
Judge Awards Investors, Lead Attorneys
A federal judge
approved
more than $3.5 billion to WorldCom investors yesterday and granted the
lead
attorneys’ application for fees, awarding the two firms more
than $194 million,
the National Law Journal reported. The award raises the total
compensation for
the plaintiffs to $6.1 billion and boosts their firms’ attorney
fees to $335
million. Southern District of New York Judge Denise Cote’s
decision brings to
a close a major chapter of the largest corporate fraud of the
post-Enron era.
Read the
full
story.
id='6'>Increased
Minimum Credit Card Payments Burden Debtors
Many banks and
credit-card
issuers are increasing their minimum monthly payment requirements, a
move that
will help consumers dig out of debt faster but may place others in
jeopardy,
PRNewswire reported yesterday. The typical monthly minimum will double
from
about 2 percent to 4 percent, with many consumers seeing the change on
their
statements by the end of this year. "For many consumers who have
traditionally
made only minimum payments on their credit card debt, a debt-free life
is a
near-impossible dream…there is concern that the most heavily
indebted
consumers will find this additional burden too much to bear,"
said Robert
Barrett, president and CEO of InCharge(R) Institute, a national
non-profit organization
specializing in personal finance education and credit counseling.
href='http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/…'>Read
more.
id='7'>Delphi
Bankruptcy Looking More Likely
Anyone who thinks
Steve Miller,
Delphi Corp.’s CEO, will try to pull off a last- second miracle
so his company
can avoid bankruptcy at any cost ought to reconsider, Bloomberg News
columnist
Doron Levin stated today. Signs are accumulating that suggest that the
biggest
U.S. auto-parts supplier is moving closer to a chapter 11 filing by
mid-October,
and perhaps any day. Delphi has had cumulative net losses of $5.7
billion over
the past four quarters, capping a dismal run in which it lost money in
three
out of the past four years. The reason for the losses is simple: In
the midst
of strong consumer demand for vehicles, Delphi’s costs,
particularly for labor
in the U.S., are out of whack because of union contracts that pay
workers and
retirees some of the world’s most generous health-care, pension
and other benefits.
href='http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000039&refer=columnist_levin…'>Read
more.
id='8'>Engler
Takes Manufacturing Group into Supreme Court Nomination Fray
Senators were
wrapping up
a long day of testimony last week on John Roberts’ Supreme Court
nomination
when National Association of Manufacturers President John Engler saw
an opportunity,
the Detroit Free Press reported yesterday. Although he was
there to offer
his group’s endorsement of Roberts, Engler also made the point
that his group
was keeping a close eye on other court-related legislation. Before the
panel
finished its work, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter
(R-Pa.)
asked Engler if the NAM planned to become more politically active on
issues
such as reining in asbestos litigation. "You can count on that,
senator,"
Engler said. Referring to the asbestos bill, Engler said that he hoped
that
wrapping up Roberts’ nomination "will allow a little bit of
floor time
for that important topic." His decision to move his association
into the
debate over two U.S. Supreme Court vacancies has its roots in
Michigan, where
he often was frustrated by judicial decisions that sometimes reversed
or reinterpreted
measures he’d shaped in the Legislature.
href='http://www.freep.com/news/statewire/sw121626_20050921.htm'>Read
the full story.
id='9'>Texas
Baseball Team Seeks Bankruptcy Protection
The legal entity
for the
Edinburg Roadrunners filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in a McAllen,
Texas, federal
court Tuesday to protect vendor and advertising contracts left
outstanding when
the Edinburg City Council’s voted to push the team out of town
last week,
the McAllen Monitor reported yesterday. Edinburg Baseball Club
LLC’s
voluntary petition for reorganization bankruptcy indicates that the
team’s
assets are in the $500,001 to $1 million range, and debts are in the
$100,001
to $500,000 range. The debt amount does not represent past money owed,
but rather
what must be paid now.
href='http://www.themonitor.com/SiteProcessor.cfm?Template=/GlobalTemplates/D…'>Read
the full story.