Bankruptcy judge OKs US Airways plans ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) =97 A bankruptcy judge on Tuesday approved US Airways'= =20 plans to emerge from bankruptcy by the end of the month, provided the=20 airline can reach agreement with its pilots on a new pension plan. The=20 approval from U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stephen Mitchell allows the airline to= =20 clear an important procedural hurdle, but it does not affect ongoing=20 negotiations between the airline and the pilots' union. The pilots' current= =20 pension plan is underfunded by about $800 million over the next seven=20 years. US Airways president and CEO David Siegel called Tuesday's ruling=20 "an important milestone. We heard from a lot of skeptics when we mentioned= =20 this date as our target for emergence back on Aug. 11" when US Airways=20 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Under the plan, the airline's=20 unsecured creditors, who have filed $61 billion in claims against the=20 company, will receive less than 2 cents on the dollar on their claims.=20 Those claims will be paid in the form of stock in the reorganized company. Shareholders will get nothing. About 100 stockholders objected to US=20 Airways' plan, saying it was unfair they will get nothing when management=20 will be given an 8% share in the reorganized company. Mitchell said he=20 sympathized with stockholders, but bankruptcy law mandates that investors=20 receive nothing unless creditors are fully repaid. US Airways expects to=20 lose more than $200 million this year and begin turning a profit beginning= =20 in 2004. Those plans, though, do not account for the lost revenue and=20 increased fuel cost associated with a war against Iraq. The company has=20 since estimated that a war will cost an additional $360 million in 2003.=20 "Nobody knows exactly what the impact of a war will be ... but it will be=20 dramatically more problematic than what the industry experienced during the= =20 first Gulf War," Siegel said. Siegel said he believes the airline can=20 withstand the war, provided the company emerges from bankruptcy by March=20 31. The airline will receive $1.24 billion in financing once it emerges. US= =20 Airways filed for bankruptcy protection in August after losing $2 billion=20 in the previous year. Since then, the company has slashed its costs=20 primarily by gaining wage concessions from its unions. Siegel said that the= =20 airline had the industry's highest unit costs before bankruptcy, but will=20 emerge from bankruptcy with only the sixth highest costs. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.thehummingbirdonline.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************