Manufacturing Industry

British Airways claims US bankruptcy system is another form of state aid - report

Airline Industry Information, Nov 9, 2004

AIRLINE INDUSTRY INFORMATION-(C)1997-2004 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

British Airways' chairman Martin Broughton has told the Financial Times that the US bankruptcy system is being used by struggling US carriers as a form of back-door state aid.

Broughton said that bankrupt carriers such as United Airlines and ATA Airlines were being propped up by the US Chapter 11 protection which means creditors cannot touch them and that they were walking away from many of their obligations because they can.

Rod Eddington, British Airways' CEO, also attacked the US bankruptcy system, citing United Airlines as an example of how the system can keep a bankrupt airline afloat while it walks away from its pension commitments. Eddington added that British Airways had increased its own pension payments by GBP134m in 2004, reports AFX.

((Comments on this story may be sent to aii.feedback@m2.com))

COPYRIGHT 2004 M2 Communications Ltd.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning

 

BNET TalkbackShare your ideas and expertise on this topic

Please add your comment:

  1. You are currently: a Guest |
  2.  

Basic HTML tags that work in comments are: bold (<b></b>), italic (<i></i>), underline (<u></u>), and hyperlink (<a href></a)

advertisement
Click Here
advertisement
  • Click Here
  • Click Here
  • Click Here
advertisement

Content provided in partnership with Thompson Gale