Industry News: Bloomberg News reports that United is revising its application for a $1.8 billion U.S. government loan guarantee to emerge from bankruptcy protection. United CEO Glenn Tilton told reporters at a news conference that the airline is in the process of supplementing its application. United filed for bankruptcy protection on Dec. 9, 2002. The board's executive director said at the time United would be allowed to submit a new plan as part of Chapter 11 restructuring. United will take a new business plan to its board of directors in June and meet with a creditors' committee, and will then submit the revised application to the ATSB. Northwest and its Northwest Airlink affiliate, Pinnacle Airlines, have upgraded service between Detroit and State College, Pa. Effective Aug. 3, Northwest will replace one of the four 34-passenger Saab 340 turbo-prop airplane flights operating on Sundays with a 50-passenger Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ). Beginning Sept. 2, the flight will become a daily jet flight between the two cities. Separately, Northwest will add new service and resume seasonal nonstop flights from its Minneapolis/St. Paul and Detroit hubs to destinations in Alaska. The airline?s summer schedule to Anchorage and Fairbanks will be offered through Sept. 1, and will include a total of eight daily flights from the lower 48 states to Alaska. Northwest will also add a second seasonal daily nonstop between June 7 and Sept. 1 on the Minneapolis/St. Paul ? Fairbanks route. The Department of Transportation (DOT) issued a final decision approving a code share agreement between American and British Airways that allows cooperation on routes beyond hubs but excludes nonstop transatlantic flights to London. The two airlines first applied for the code share in November, and DOT issued a tentative decision on April 9. Unlike previous applications filed with the DOT, the most recent application did not request antitrust immunity. In other news, the DOT has lifted the ban on air service between the U.S. and Iraq, the first step toward allowing U.S. carriers to operate scheduled service to Baghdad. Following a DOT order issued in 1990, U.S. and foreign air carriers have been prohibited from selling any services in the U.S. that included a stop in Iraq. The DOT said procedures for restoring U.S.-Iraq air service are under review, as several airlines have applied for Baghdad flights. United has reinstated daily nonstop service between San Francisco and Seoul, becoming the only U.S. carrier to serve the market nonstop from the United States. The service was suspended as part of the airline?s post-Sept. 11 service cutbacks. United will operate the flights with Boeing 777 aircraft. Korean-speaking flight attendants, Korean-dubbed movies and Korean entree selections will be on each flight. The Air Transport Association (ATA) has announced that John M. Meenan has been named executive vice president and chief operating officer, effective immediately. Meenan has held leadership positions within the association since joining the ATA general counsel's staff in 1985, and has most recently served as senior vice president for industry policy, overseeing industry economic analysis and public communications. In his new position, Meenan will work to increase ATA's focus on industry issues and improve service to passenger and cargo airline members while continuing his involvement in industry environmental affairs, security, passenger and cargo facilitation, and coordination of airport policy. --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Free online calendar with sync to Outlook(TM).