Eastern Airlines

25 Years Ago (Week of June 22-28, 1969):* The Anthony L. Slavolinek family of Elkridge was among the 103 passengers on board an Eastern Airlines flight that was hijacked to Cuba. The family of three had been en route to the Bahamas. They finally reached their destination after the unscheduled stop in Havana and a return trip to Miami, the plane's original destination.50 Years Ago (Week of June 25-July 1, 1944):* As of June 30, Howard County Minute Men were returned to inactive status per the order of Gov. Herbert R. O'Conor.

Airlines operating from Baltimore-Washington International Airport improved their on-time performance in September, according to a U.S. Department of Transportation survey.The on-time departure rate at BWI rose from 85.4 percent in August to 91.1 percent in September. The on-time arrival rate rose from 78 percent in August to 86 percent in September.Continental Airlines had the best on-time arrival performance in September -- 91.4 percent of its flights arrived at BWI within 15 minutes of the scheduled time.

You can fly, but you can't hide.New technology from USAir ensures that the business traveler won't be far from the office, even five miles up.The airline is equipping all of the seats on one of its new Boeing 757 jets with Sky Office, a communication system that includes a telephone, fax and a small video screen set into each seat back.The plane will be delivered to the airline this month. Eventually, all 10 757s USAir has leased from defunct Eastern Airlines will carry the Sky Office equipment.

Marguerite Phyllis Edmands, a homemaker and gardener, died of heart failure July 22 at the home of a daughter in Newport News, Va. She was 84. Born Marguerite Bailey in Middletown, N.Y., and raised in Washington, she was a graduate of the Holton-Arms School. She earned her bachelor's degree in English in the early 1940s at the University of Maryland. In 1942, she married Ernest J. Edmands, a career naval officer. During World War II, while her husband was serving in the Pacific, she worked as a reservations clerk for Eastern Airlines at then-National Airport in Washington.

William Arnold Lankford, a retired airline pilot and union representative, died of heart failure Dec. 28 at Regional Memorial Hospital near Miami. He was 77. Born and raised in Salisbury, he was a 1950 Wicomico Senior High School graduate. He joined the Air Force and completed two years of flight school. Trained as a tactical fighter pilot, Mr. Lankford served in Europe during the Cold War. After retiring from military service, Mr. Lankford was a partner in a development and contracting business in the Washington area.

Sidney Gottlieb, 80, who oversaw CIA experiments during the Cold War that included the use of LSD and other mind-altering drugs on unwitting test subjects, died Sunday in Washington, Va., near the Blue Ridge Mountains, where he had spent his final years tending people in a hospice.Venancio de Moura, 64, a veteran Angolan diplomat who signed the peace accord aimed at ending a two-decade civil war in his homeland, died Saturday in Paris of lymphatic cancer.Martin R. Shugrue Jr., 58, an airline executive who labored to rescue Eastern Airlines and Pan Am during a lifetime working in the industry, died Sunday in Houston.

Steven C. Benderoth, a musician and composer of advertising jingles, died March 16 of kidney failure at his New York City home. He was 60. Born in Baltimore and raised on Liberty Road in Randallstown, he was a 1964 graduate of Milford Mill High School, where he appeared in plays. He also played keyboard in a teen rock band and studied at the Freitag School of Music. "He was a natural singer and performed at old Cadoa Hall in something called the Boogie- Woogie Blues," said a childhood friend, Kathy Jewell, who lives in New York.

Harry S. Freedman, 53, formerly of Pimlico, a decorated Vietnam War fighter pilot who later flew for Eastern Airlines, died Friday of a massive heart attack at his home in Stone Mountain, Ga.Mr. Freedman was born in Baltimore and was a 1959 graduate of City College.As a member of the 612th Tactical Fighter Squadron, the Screaming Eagles, Mr. Freedman flew scores of missions in F-100 Supersabres over South Vietnam and across the border into Laos in 1966 and 1967 in support of American and South Vietnamese ground troops and bombing Viet Cong and North Vietnamese bases.

A myriad of fare increases and discounts were announced yesterday, with some airlines raising prices to offset higher fuel costs and others reducing them to entice customers.In an effort to offset rising jet fuel cost, Northwest Airlines said it would increase fares 5.8 percent starting on Oct. 31.But Eastern Airlines of Miami announced it would offer new fall weekend discount fares, which range from $79 to $129 each way for domestic travel from 13 cities, beginning today. Last week, Eastern announced it would raise prices 8 percent on full coach fares for tickets not purchased in advance.

Stock to fund GM pension liabilityGeneral Motors Corp. said yesterday that it would use $5.7 billion worth of stock in its Electronic Data Systems Corp. subsidiary to reduce GM's $24 billion unfunded pension liability.GM said it would transfer 185 million shares of EDS stock, which closed yesterday at $31 a share.Unions renew Lorenzo fightTrade unions yesterday reopened their fight against Frank Lorenzo's bid to start up a new airline, saying his record as owner of Continental and Eastern airlines shows him to be unfit.