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CHICAGO -- Concluding one of the longest-running buyout efforts in the history of corporate America, employees of United Airlines gained control of their company yesterday, exchanging deep cuts in pay and benefits for a majority stake in the second-largest employee-owned company in the country.Except for a new advertising campaign that United began Monday night to publicize the deal, passengers will notice few changes.But the completion of the buyout, a sweeping and complex transaction about seven years in the making, is expected to make employee ownership a more popular solution at companies struggling to lower their costs.

United Airlines said Monday that January traffic rose, and it collected more revenue from each passenger. United said it collected 9.5 percent to 11.5 percent more for each passenger flown one mile in January compared with January 2009. Throughout last year airlines struggled to raise fares, so any increase in so-called unit revenue should be welcomed by the industry. - Associated Press div.talkforum #creditfooter { display: none; } div.talkforum .feedItemAuthor { display: none; }

UAL Corp., the parent of United Airlines, said yesterday that it is postponing its decision on whether to pursue an acquisition of USAir Group Inc.The Chicago-based airline had been expected to reach a decision by early November after a monthlong study of USAir's finances and its operating structure. A preliminary recommendation was expected to be made today to the airline's board of directors.But a spokesman for the company said yesterday that a number of complex issues prompted the company to delay its decision until mid-November.

FDIC adds new fee system to replenish insurance fund WASHINGTON - Federal regulators on Friday adopted a new system of special fees paid by U.S. financial institutions that will shift more of the burden to bigger banks to help replenish the deposit insurance fund. The move by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. cut by about two-thirds the amount of special fees to be levied on banks and thrifts. It followed protests by small and community banks against a plan adopted in February that charged premiums based on the amount of deposits.

CHICAGO -- UAL Corp., the parent of United Airlines, is set to meet next week with investors, union officials and directors to discuss whether or not it will proceed with an offer for USAir Group Inc.UAL is expected to finish a study evaluating a merger by Monday. The airline began the study in early October, when it disclosed that it was talking with USAir about possible strategic alliances that include an acquisition.UAL executives and representatives of its labor unions are scheduled to meet Tuesday with investors and analysts at the company's annual securities analyst meeting in Chicago.

CHICAGO - United Airlines flight attendants said yesterday that they won't consider contract concessions that parent UAL Corp. wants from unions as part of a plan to recover from record losses. The pilots said they're willing to work with the carrier on the plan. The responses follow a meeting yesterday between John Creighton, chief executive of the world's No. 2 airline, and unions for the flight attendants, pilots and flight dispatchers. UAL had a record loss of $2.1 billion last year as sales fell 17 percent, and expects a loss this year as well.

NEW YORK -- In the face of persistent recession, United Airlines took a big step back from an ambitious expansion strategy yesterday, announcing that it was cutting its capital spending by $6.7 billion over the next three years and postponing the delivery of new aircraft.The airline, one of the nation's strongest, had sought to keep its expansion drive going in spite of hard times, but continuing poor traffic and heavy fare discounting forced it to pull back.Both business and leisure travel have been low, showing only a small recovery from the disastrous levels of last year, when fear of terrorists during the Persian Gulf war caused many companies to eliminate international travel altogether and other travelers to stay close to home.

United Airlines asked a federal bankruptcy court judge yesterday to set aside its labor agreements as it seeks deep wage and benefit cuts from its employees. The motion, filed in Chicago by United's parent, the UAL Corp., proposed a series of agreements that would permanently reduce wage and benefit levels by $2.56 billion a year and make changes in schedules for flight crews, in pension plans, in job security and in various clauses that govern staffing levels and job duties. UAL also wants to create a low-fare airline.

United Airlines parent UAL Corp. won European antitrust approval yesterday for its $11.6 billion purchase of US Airways Group Inc. after pledging to give up some takeoff and landing slots in Germany. The largest airline merger will mostly affect the United States by giving United access to US Airways north-south routes on the East Coast. Still, because United has a joint venture on trans-Atlantic routes with Deutsche Lufthansa AG under the Star Alliance, United had to eliminate some overlap in flights.

Ten days ago, United Airlines reported that it made $119 million in the second quarter - marking its first profitable period in six years. Apparently, investors expected better. In the days since those results were announced, the stock of United's parent, UAL Corp., has lost more than 15 percent of its value, closing yesterday at $24.25. That price is the lowest the stock has reached since United left bankruptcy protection in February and began trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange. When United announced preliminary earning results July 26, "there probably were some people who had overestimated what United was going to do, and very few who had underestimated," said John Pincavage, an aviation analyst.

Ten days ago, United Airlines reported that it made $119 million in the second quarter - marking its first profitable period in six years. Apparently, investors expected better. In the days since those results were announced, the stock of United's parent, UAL Corp., has lost more than 15 percent of its value, closing yesterday at $24.25. That price is the lowest the stock has reached since United left bankruptcy protection in February and began trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange. When United announced preliminary earning results July 26, "there probably were some people who had overestimated what United was going to do, and very few who had underestimated," said John Pincavage, an aviation analyst.

The competition for airline passengers out west soon will benefit travelers at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport as both United Airlines and Southwest Airlines add service between Baltimore and Denver. United Airlines said it would add several flights from Denver International Airport, where it is the dominant carrier, including one to Baltimore in April. The news comes on the heels of Southwest Airlines' launch in Denver this year and subsequent announcement that it would add a daily flight to BWI next month.

CHICAGO -- Three years after United Airlines announced it was embarking on a period of "profound and agonizing change," the bankruptcy reorganization plan for the nation's No. 2 carrier won court approval yesterday. And it was agonizing: More than 25,000 workers lost jobs, those remaining suffered huge wage and benefit cuts and shareholders watched their stock become worthless in the longest and most expensive airline bankruptcy in history. Despite the pain, "I think there is a reason to feel good about this plan," U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Eugene R. Wedoff said in making his ruling.

United Airlines parent UAL Corp. received good grades yesterday from two major debt rating companies on a $3 billion loan it secured. The ratings by Moody's Investor Service and Standard & Poor's were viewed by the company as validation it has made the right moves to become more competitive while in bankruptcy. The announcement about the $3 billion loan came yesterday after a nearly two-hour meeting between the airline's financial executives and bankers at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York.

With four major U.S. airlines in bankruptcy, travel experts say there will be hardship to go around. But passengers may have the least to fear. Airlines are expected to continue honoring all tickets and frequent-flier programs. There may be some shifts in service as airlines seek the most profitable routes, but those moves aren't limited to bankrupt carriers, industry experts said. In recent years, some travelers haven't even realized they were flying a bankrupt airline. "It's been relatively seamless," Jay Ellenby, chief executive of Baltimore travel agency Safe Harbors Travel Group, said of recent bankruptcies.

CHICAGO - United Airlines reached tentative agreement yesterday on a new cost-saving contract for its 19,500 ground workers, heading off a potentially devastating strike and vastly improving the airline's chances to emerge from bankruptcy. The proposed contract with the Machinists union - which still must be ratified by the membership - means United is poised to achieve its goal of saving about $725 million a year by forging new concessionary agreements with all four of its labor groups.

United Airlines parent UAL Corp. is preparing to "put on a show" this week by calling 41 witnesses and presenting more than 400 exhibits at a trial aimed at rejecting current union contracts, one bankruptcy expert says. The airline has the burden of proving that it needs new, lower-cost contracts to survive, said the expert, Douglas Baird, a professor at the University of Chicago's law school. The trial begins Friday in Chicago. United faces discontented employees who do not necessarily agree to the cuts in pay and benefits the company seeks.

DALLAS - In bankruptcy for two years, United Airlines has a new role in mind if it can reorganize: industry consolidator. Taking cues from the telecommunications industry, the money-bleeding airline business needs to consolidate to regain its health, Glenn F. Tilton, chairman and chief executive of United parent UAL Corp., told investors in New York yesterday. Look for his carrier to act, he said. "For the industry to get to a position where it can genuinely make some progress through the current level of dysfunctionality, there need to be fewer network legacy carriers," he said at the J.P. Morgan Airline Conference.

CHICAGO - United Airlines and the International Association of Machinists turned the focus of contract negotiations to pension benefits yesterday as they sought to avoid a strike. "That's the big issue," said Joe Tiberi, a spokesman for the IAM, which represents 20,000 bag handlers, reservations agents and other employees. United and the Machinists, the biggest union at the airline, continued talks yesterday, he said. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Eugene Wedoff plans to rule Tuesday on whether UAL Corp.

United Airlines is moving forward on plans to eliminate employee pension plans because no alternative to save the carrier the same amount of money has been found, chief executive Glenn F. Tilton said yesterday. After months of exploring alternatives, no other solution will save the billions of dollars that could be realized by ending the pension benefits, Tilton, CEO of parent UAL Corp., said. "Our view hasn't changed, it remains the same," he told reporters after an address to the City Club of Chicago.