A Daily Look at the Airline Industry and the Nation’s Top Seven U.S. Airlines

UAL/Orbitz

CHICAGO (Dow Jones) - UAL Corp., parent of United Airlines, on Thursday received bankruptcy-court approval to sell part of its stake in Orbitz Inc. after the online travel agent's initial public offering slated for later this year.

Cash balance for the quarter ending at $2.4 billion

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Bankrupt UAL Corp., parent of United Airlines, on Thursday reported a much narrower quarterly net loss as the world's second-largest air carrier continued a massive court-protected restructuring.

Amex to Trade Options on US Airways Group, Inc.

NEW YORK (PRNewswire) - The American Stock Exchange® (Amex®) will launch trading in options on Friday, October 31, 2003 on the Nasdaq Stock Market listed stock of US Airways Group, Inc. (Option Symbol: UWS/Stock Symbol: UAIR).

Following Midway’s decision, US Airways has begun accommodating passengers ticketed for travel on Midway. Service on most routes previously operated by Midway is cancelled through Nov. 2. Customers booked on these flights will be reaccommodated on alternate US Airways or US Airways Express flights, or on other airlines as necessary. Those customers whose new itineraries do not meet their travel needs will receive a full refund. Beginning Nov. 3, US Airways will begin adding flights on existing Midway routes with aircraft operated by other US Airways Express carriers.

"We will do everything possible to help make other travel arrangements for customers affected by Midway’s cessation of service," said S. Michael Scheeringa, vice president-Express division. "Other US Airways Express carriers are operating some of Midway’s flights, to ensure that customers’ plans are not disrupted. As part of this effort to maintain as many routes as possible, some Express routes temporarily will have one less frequency a day as we develop and implement our new Express schedule."

ARLINGTON (theHub.com) - Customer Service employees at wholly owned US Airways Express subsidiary Piedmont Airlines have voted against becoming part of the Communication Workers of America (CWA). The results of a recent vote, which was tabulated by the National Mediation Board, showed employees rejected representation by approximately 660 votes out of approximately 1,100 voters.

ARLINGTON (theHub.com) - Starting this month, all U.S.-based McDonald’s employees will use Orbitz for Business for corporate travel transactions, including flight, hotel and car bookings. McDonald’s corporate office has signed a deal with Orbitz to be the "exclusive" travel provider for the fast-food chain. McDonald’s is the first Fortune 150 company to sign an agreement to use Orbitz for Business. Aviation Daily reports that McDonald’s chose Orbitz because it provides a "lower-cost travel program that is user-friendly."

US Airways issued the following statement in response to comments made by the Air Line Pilots Association of Midway Airlines about their carrier’s shutdown.

"US Airways has been working closely with Midway Airlines on lending and regional jet agreements for the past year of its lengthy reorganization. By lending $8.6 million in Debtor-In-Possession financing, we provided support when no one else would, and without our support, Midway likely would have shut down last year. The Midway ALPA Master Executive Council failed to respond to the rapidly evolving airline industry, and, as a result, their workers are without jobs and a company."

This is Jack Stephan with a US Airways MEC update for Wednesday, October 29^th, with one new item.

Today the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee held a mark up to consider several bills, including pension legislation. In a move similar to action in the House earlier this month, today's senate bill was voted out of committee without amendments, and did not include The Airline Pension Act of 2003. The pension bill voted out of committee and sent to the senate floor replaces the 30 year Treasury Bond rate for a period of three years with a composite corporate bond rate based on conservative indexes. The bill also creates a commission to review all outstanding general pension issues over the next two years, and provide recommendations to the congress for a more permanent solution to the pension crisis by the end of 2005. This bill will go to the senate floor for a vote, and then will be reconciled with the House legislation in a conference committee. In replacing the 30-year Treasury Bond rate for calculating pension liabilities both the Senate and House bills only address legislation required by the end of this year, and represent the only issues all parties can agree to in committee. ALPA and our supporters in the congress will continue to look for opportunities to include The Airline Pension Act of 2003 in this pension legislation as it moves to a floor vote and in to conference; or in any other legislation that is an appropriate vehicle.