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wire servicesUnrelated announcements from three companies demonstrate their continued financial struggle.
News from several airlines was gloomy Wednesday, as United Airlines said further job cuts will be necessary; US Airways had no progress in cost-saving agreements with two unions; and ATA Holdings said its stock will be removed from the Nasdaq Stock Market.
UNITED: United Airlines is poised to make more reductions to its work force - already 40 percent smaller than it was before the 2001 terrorist attacks.
The second-biggest U.S. airline confirmed Wednesday that job cuts will be part of the new business plan it is putting together this month as it renews its push to get out of bankruptcy.
Spokeswoman Jean Medina said no total for the cuts has been determined, as discussions continue involving United's board of directors, creditors committee, labor leaders and other key stakeholders. United has about 62,000 employees, down from more than 100,000 three years ago.
Spokesmen for United unions said they were not immediately aware of planned job cuts.
US AIRWAYS: US Airways' pilots this week offered to take deeper pay cuts and sacrifice more of their retirement plan but, with less than two weeks to go before a possible US Airways bankruptcy, there was still no sign a new cost-saving agreement with the company had been reached.
Union negotiators sent the company a new proposal calling for a 20.25 percent pay cut for all pilots, up from 16.25 percent in a previous offer, and a 20 percent cut in company contributions to the pilots' retirement plan, up from 10 percent.
Negotiators also withdrew demands for a "no-furlough" clause that US Airways opposed. The airline would like to furlough as many as 775 pilots.
The company declined to comment on the proposal and made no indication that a deal was near. The pilots have not addressed cuts in retiree medical benefits or reductions in long-term coverage for disabled pilots, two changes the company has proposed. Nor do the union's retirement reductions match what the company asked for in previous proposals.
On Tuesday, talks between US Airways and the International Association of Machinists over union cost-saving ideas ended soon after they began.
The union "again failed to provide any substance to their cost-savings ideas," the airline said in a prepared statement. "The time for avoiding the real issues which confront us is over."
A union spokesman declined to comment. The union, which represents mechanics and fleet service workers, has declined to open its contract to discuss the airline's request for $251-million annually in concessions, but has said it has ideas that could cut costs by $80-million to $100-million annually.
Those ideas include cutting a layer of management, increasing worker productivity and performing maintenance for other airlines.
ATA: ATA Holdings of Indianapolis, the parent of ATA Airlines, said this week that it had received notice that its stock would be removed from the Nasdaq exchange because it had failed to maintain minimum market value requirements.
In a filing Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, ATA Holdings said its publicly held shares had fallen below Nasdaq's $15-million minimum.
The company's stock, which hit a 52-week high of $13.31 in February, has been trading below $3 per share in recent weeks. It closed Wednesday at $1.99, up 4 cents, or 2 percent, from Tuesday's close.
Information from the Associated Press and Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News was used in this report.