United Airlines

Argenbright Security Inc., under fire from federal lawmakers for recent airport security breaches, will face intense scrutiny from state and local officials when it takes over security screening at one of Baltimore-Washington International Airport's major concourses this morning. Southwest Airlines confirmed yesterday that it has hired the Atlanta-based company to staff checkpoints at its 16-gate B Pier. Argenbright also will take over security at United Airlines' three A Pier gates Monday, according to a United spokesman.

The $4.3 billion in cash that United Airlines dangled in front of US Airways last week might have simply been too tasty to turn down. For shareholders, it will mean a 130 percent payoff for an otherwise lifeless stock. The chairman and the chief executive will take home $130 million and $88 million, respectively. And the deal will pad the account and the reputation of US Airways' largest stockholder - a prominent hedge fund that had withered along with the value of its investment in the airline.

TCU.S. opposes purchase by GilletteThe Justice Department said yesterday that it would file an antitrust suit to block Gillette Co.'s proposed purchase of Parker Pen Holdings Ltd. unless both companies abandon the transaction.The combination of two of the world's largest manufacturers of writing instruments would substantially lessen competition in the manufacture and sale of premium fountain pens in the United States, the Justice Department said.Perdue to drop suit against EmpirePerdue Farms Inc. agreed yesterday to drop a lawsuit it filed this month against Empire Kosher Poultry Inc. in which Perdue asserted that Empire's ads were confusingly similar to Perdue's.

USAir seeks link with UnitedUSAir is negotiating with United Airlines to link USAir domestic flights to and from Miami with United's Miami-based Latin American system.If the arrangement tracks past practice, a Charlotte-Miami flight on USAir connecting to a Miami-Caracas, Venezuela, flight on United would appear in computer reservations systems to be a Charlotte-Caracas flight on United.USAir also announced that it will acquire from United Airlines five gates at Florida's Orlando International Airport on Oct. 1.And USAir will begin service from Baltimore-Washington International Airport to Las Vegas' McCarren International Airport Sept.

United Airlines, 2 unions to talkUnited Airlines and two of its largest unions are expected to reopen talks today about a possible employee buyout that were derailed in mid-November. The collapse came after United's parent, UAL Corp., went ahead with its $119.4 million sale of 15 flight kitchens at 12 airports to Dobbs International Services, a unit of Dial Corp.The International Association of Machinists, which represented the 5,000 flight kitchen employees, said the sale made continuation of the talks futile, a position backed by the Air Line Pilots Association, the other union taking part.

CHICAGO -- After months of sometimes acrimonious negotiations, United Airlines and its unions agreed yesterday on a proposed employee buyout that would create the nation's largest employee-owned company.Now the question is whether the two sides can persuade stockholders to accept the deal -- and whether the airline can return to profitability under employee ownership.After seven years of failed attempts to gain control of the company, union leaders who were pushing the deal were understandably relieved yesterday.

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.

A federal bankruptcy judge gave United Airlines yesterday a Nov. 1 deadline to file a plan for exiting Chapter 11, and said if it fails to do so it risks losing control of its destiny. United has won 10 extensions of its exclusive right to determine its reorganization plan for leaving bankruptcy. "No further extensions will be granted in the absence of compelling and unforeseeable circumstances," Judge Eugene Wedoff said. Some of United's banking creditors want more say in the airline's business plan.

United Airlines' proposed takeover of US Airways, an $11.6 billion deal that would vault the world's largest air carrier into a dominant role in major travel markets throughout the United States, came under intense scrutiny from Congress, regulators and labor groups yesterday concerned that the deal will flatten competition and boost airfares nationwide. Even as company officials formally announced the takeover in New York's Waldorf-Astoria hotel, calling it a "clean" deal that will improve air travel and survive regulatory review, skeptics took aim at the proposed transportation powerhouse.

US Airways became the latest airline to lower its estimated quarterly earnings yesterday, reacting to modest ticket sales that have prompted several major air carriers to scale back growth and reduce fares as much as 25 percent.In a letter to analysts and investors, the Arlington, Va.-based airline estimated second-quarter profit of $1.80 to $1.85 a share, down from an earlier estimate of $2.15 a share. It attributed the drop to "softer than anticipated" traffic in May and unexpected expenses.