United recalls 40 pilots

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Sep 3, 2004

United Airlines, the world's second-largest airline, is recalling 40 pilots for added international flights, including new service between the U.S. and China, Vietnam and Australia. United, operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy court protection, needs pilots to replace those retiring or leaving the company as well, spokeswoman Jean Medina said in an interview. The Chicago-based airline also recalled 375 flight attendants this week. The airline unit of UAL Corp. employed 6,909 pilots at the end of last year. Those returning will be trained in November and could be flying by December, Medina said. The recall cuts the number of United pilots laid off since the Sept. 11 attacks to 2,132.

Continental to cut 425 jobs

Continental Airlines Inc., the fifth- largest U.S. carrier, said it will eliminate 425 jobs, mostly managers and clerical workers, to help reduce annual costs by $200 million. Unless fares rise, the Houston-based carrier also will have to cut wages and benefits, Chief Executive Gordon Bethune said in a statement, without giving details. The company said it's negotiating savings from suppliers and is seeking to trim expenses for fuel, facilities and ticket distribution. "This is setting the stage for follow-on concessions" from Continental's unions, said Bill Warlick, a Fitch Ratings analyst in Chicago. "It gets hard to sort of wring savings out of a company that has been transformed to a lower cost structure."

Chip sales rise 38 percent

Global sales of semiconductors rose 38 percent to $18 billion in July from a year earlier, helped by demand for chips used in personal computers, cars and consumer electronics, the Semiconductor Industry Association said. From June, chip sales climbed 1 percent, the San Jose-based group said in a Business Newswire statement. The industry remains "on track" for year-on-year growth of about 28 percent and record sales of $214 billion, SIA said. "We continue to forecast sequential growth of 4 to 6 percent for the third quarter compared to the second quarter," SIA President George Scalise said in the statement. In June, month-on-month sales rose 2.8 percent. The SIA said the slower growth rate in July from the previous month was "not unexpected."BLOOMBERG NEWS SERVICE

Pfizer sues 18 Internet sites

Pfizer Inc., the world's largest drugmaker, said it sued 18 Internet sites for selling counterfeit versions of its best-selling cholesterol drug Lipitor. The sites market products identified as "generic Lipitor" or "Lipitor generic." The drugs haven't been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a generic version of Lipitor and violate Pfizer's trademark, the lawsuits contend. In May, New York-based Pfizer sued operators of five Web sites for selling copies of Lipitor, the biggest-selling drug in the world with $9.23 billion in sales last year. Lipitor is protected by patents and generic versions of the drug aren't available legally, Pfizer said. The sales dilute "the distinctive quality of the famous Lipitor trademark and injures Pfizer's reputation as the source of high quality products," Pfizer said in one of the lawsuits.

Enron may recover $1.5 billion

Enron Corp., which is suing hundreds of business partners including Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., said it may recover as much as $1.5 billion it paid them before filing the second- biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history. Houston-based Enron is targeting more than 1,000 transactions it says were fraudulent, the company said in U.S. bankruptcy court papers. The company, while under a previous management, made payments or owed money to vendors, lawyers, accountants, former members of senior management, trading counterparts, and financial institutions.

Nextel outspent rivals over airwaves

Nextel Communications Inc., the smallest of six nationwide U.S. wireless carriers, outspent bigger competitors on government lobbying in the first half to win access to airwaves valued at $4.86 billion. Nextel, based in Reston, Va., spent $1.92 million, compared with $240,000 a year earlier, according to a report filed with Congress. The filings were provided to Bloomberg News by the companies. Spending more than doubled from the preceding period, highlighting the urgency of Nextel's efforts to win frequencies that may give it a bigger slice of the $1.85 billion wireless-data market. Verizon Wireless, the biggest carrier, spent $1.3 million partly in an attempt to derail Nextel's plan.

IBM, Intel agree on server patents

International Business Machines Corp. and Intel Corp. said they will let companies use the patents behind some server computers for free to help spur demand. The change will make it easier for hardware and software companies to develop more products that work with IBM's so-called blade servers, computers shrunk to a single circuit board, IBM Vice President Jeff Benck said in an interview. More choices will drive interest from new customers, he said.