OCR Text |
Show DAILY HERALD Saturday, September 11, 2004 Airlines stubbornly high coat of ofl, which makes jet fuel more expensive too. Because fliers are so price sensitive, carriers have been largely unsuccessful at raising fares to pass along the higher fuel costs, magnifying Continued from D6 camber 2002, is putting together is third turnaround proposal to a bankruptcy judge. As part of that process, limed has threatened to terminate its pension plans ki order to attract additional financing. IMed CEO Qenn Tifton recently saki in a recorded message to employees that the airline could save $625 million a year through new call center, maintenance, airport station and their losses. Merrill Lynch estimates that the nine largest US. carriers will lose some $700 million durquarter, ing the which is traditionally the industry's strongest due to summer travel. Had fuel prices held steady at last year's levels, ccrnrnuter-carrie- r those same carriers would have agreements, though he did not detail bow the turned a profit of about $500 , ' savings would be achieved. million, the investment bank I Alaska Air Group Inc. on said in a report. The flurry of restructuring Thursday increased the number of employees it plans to lay off now under way will hit airline by 750, bringing the total to employees the hardest, analysts about 900, as part of a broader said, though there are also fr riandal risks ahead for travelplan to save $35 million a year. Diane Woerth, president of ers, aircraft manufacturers, the Air Line Pilots Association, small companies that provide said he is optimistic that the latairport-suppor- t services such as est moves will be more effective ' catering and cleaning and than the post-Se11, 2001 strateven rival carriers. . If US Airways liquidates, for egy of laying off tens of thousands of workers and getting the example, it would send shock-wavremainder to accept lower through UAL, which takes in roughly $300 million a wages and benefits. While job and pay cuts remain year through a in the mix this time around, the agreement with the carrier, Port troubled airlines also appear inairline Washington, tent on reshaping their opera-tior- a consultant Robert Mann said from head to toej he said For aircraft makers such as This means retrenching from Boeing Co. and Airbus SA.S, certain markets Delta from the threats are mainly limited to Dallas, US Airways from Pittstheir finance units, which have burgh in order to sharpen significant exposure to Delta their focus in fewer, select cities and US Airways, respectively. where they stand the best Fliers, meanwhile, risk losing benechance of growing. And it any accrued frequent-flie- r means utilizing aircraft and em- fits in the event of a liquidation, not to mention reduced service ployees more efficiently, so that they have less idle time in which and potentially higher fares, alexpenses are incurred but no though analysts believe any revenue comes in. competitive vacuum would be "It's easier to go to our memquickly filled. Low fare leaders Southwest bership (to vote on proposed and JetBlue have little to worry concessions) if we see changes that we believe are going to about, experts said, as it will take several years for the help the business, woerth said. Of course, while it's Delta and programs at Delta, US US Airways making headlines Airways and other carriers to these days, Woerth said it could reach their maximum potenrM be just a matter of time before "Oearfyi the problems that the legacy carriers are having carriers such as Northwest Airwin continue to create opportulines Corp. and Continental Airnities for the low-colines Inc unveil their own turn-aroucarriers for quite a while," said Daniel plans. "We're going to remain busy," he said. Kasper, who runs the trans- A key factor exacerbating portation practice for the conthe major carriers' problems in sulting firm LECG in Camrecent months has been the bridge, Mass. er . es code-sharin- g N.Y.-base- d -- cost-cutti- st . Fraud Qwest restated its financial results for 2001 and 2002, lowering revenue by about $2.5 billion, and former chief executive Joe Nacchio stepped down in June 2002. He has denied wrongdoing. Qwest earlier this year put up about $500 million in reserves for ongoing litigation in shareholder lawsuits and securities investigations. The SEC and some shareholders have sued former and cur- Continued from Do able deals with other tdecoms. The SEC began investigating , the Denver-basecompany in 2002, looking specifically at swaps in which Qwest sold items to customers around the same time those customers sold items back to Qwest; changes in publication dates for its phone directories that allowed revenue from the directory unit to be booked in a certain quarter; and when revenue was booked on long-tertransactions involving optical capacity assets. d lk DS Thinking outside the box People said "You can't put a polo player on the shirt pocket. Nobody will ever buy it." ; "You want to sell me a chick- lady, because she is going to die, and thus you should save her first. You could take the old friend because he once saved your life, and this would be the perfect chance to pay him back. You may however wish to pick up the person of your dreams because you may never find your perfect mate thinking and the box are often hear. Those individuals that can see things differently and make a differ-enc- e m a company are highly sought after. Albert Einstein represented the best of creative thinkers when he observed, To rase new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination.'' Creativity emerges out of personal commitment to raise new questions, explore new possibilities, focus on old problems from a new" angle, and be willing to implement ideas that may not be in tune with the conventional way of doing things. I read of a company recently that placed in front of job applicants the following moralethical ailemma as part of the job application process. Let's see how you do in answering the f ollowing questions. You are driving down the road in your car on a wild, stormy night, when you pass by a bus stop and you see three Creative Sanders!" "I'm sorry, but your Gone With the Wind manuscript will have little public appeal." "Mr. BeU, please remove that silly toy from my office. There is no room in the market for a telephone." Somebody else thought the phone was silly in the office and now we have cell phones all over the planet. What do you mean, watches with no hands? Are you crazy? How dumb do you think I am? You cant put music on a roll of tape? Wouldn't the MP3 ' player blow that guys mind? When 5 percent of society accepts an idea, it becomes imbedded in the population. When 20 percent agrees, it's unstoppable. Think outside the box! again Steve Densley i en recipe? YouH never get that idea off the ground, Colonel The candidate who was hired (out of 200 applicants) had no trouble corning up with his answer. They simply answered: I would give the car keys to my old friend and let them take the lady to the hospi- Chamber Report people waiting for the bus: First, there is an older lady who looks as if she is about to die. Second, you see an old tal. I would then stay behind and wait for the bus with the partner of my dreams. Sometimes, we gain more if we are able to give up our stub-bor- a thought limitations. Never forget to "Think outside of the box." The history books are full of people who realized creativity begins with destroying perceived limitations and remaining untouched by criticism. friend who once saved your life. The last person you see is the perfect partner you have been dreaming about. Which one would you choose to offer a ride to, knowing that there could only be one passenger in your car? Think before you continue reading. You could pick up the old I Steve the Densley is Proyo-Ore- m president of Chamber of Commerce. Hurricanes cost Florida agriculture $2 billion I $530 million to $600 million to nursery products, which surpassed citrus as Florida's largest cash crop three years Mike Schneider THE ASSOCIATED PRESS State ORLANDO, Fla. agricultural officials on Friday raised the estimated losses from Hurricanes Charley and Frances to more than $2 billion, or more than 30 percent of Florida's $6.4 billion in annual crop cash receipts. The losses were expected to increase if Hurricane Ivan delivers another blow to the storm-wear- y state next week. "These losses are unprecedented in the. state's history," Florida Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson said in a statement. According to the latest figures released by the state Department of Agriculture, the two hurricanes caused losses of: unprecedented in the state's history" ago. I $400 million to $505 million to the citrus crop. Charles Bronson $150 million to timber. $100 million to beef cattle, I rus grower's group also raised estimated loss from Charley to $285 million, from an original $150 million, to include damage to infrastructure, tree damage and droppings of fruit off trees during the past month. The Florida Department of Citrus, the agency that markets and performs research for the Florida citrus industry, planned Friday to reduce its $60.9 million budget by $12 million because of the hurricanes. The agency gets its funding from a tax on each box of citrus. The budget change was based on a calculation for the upcoming season that there will be a reduction by a quarter to the orange crop and a reduction by half to the grapefruit crop because of the hurricanes. "These losses are Florida Agricultural Commissioner mainly for destroyed fencing, structural damage and loss of sates. I $50 million to vegetables. I $40 million to sugar. The campaign includes producing video and audio programming for television and radio news stations that have two growers talking about the impact of the hurricanes on their livelihood. Florida Citrus Mutual, the state's largest grower's group, estimated Friday that damage to Florida citrus from Frances alone was $200 million The cit Members of the Florida Citrus Commission, which governs the Florida citrus industry, on Friday approved $500,000 for a marketing and public relations campaign that will encourage people to drink orange juice as a way to help FToridians recover from the hurricanes. GART sports. rent employees. Qwest's stock rose 8 cents to $2.96 a share in afternoon trad- ing on the New York Stock Exchange. Ills 1H1'Is Qn i V tomU i $OQ CD u f WOm 0 L G G t WA Q)Q Sftfiv i7nn 223" Orii' 4M.97 rMOIMOW tM Gwiwttoi Jr. SmnriMMrdPKkaat SO mis On (Blown 4E2L. 33 RltKIN' IT Axis XT nr.akfo nrrKrife iHPiftfr i MOHOW'M .J tL iuwhhi(ii flit; I lit i II m 'i MM ji:mn microscope D.O., has lamented used in Microscopic Follicular Unit Grafting, todays most advanced procedure, to give you up to 3000 grafts and 7000 hairs in one session. Huts mote hair transplanted it c time thajj ever befotfjKMsible. And, with mat much of vour own hair growing in again, die results are thicket, softer and more natural. SilOF I ' nceicK EntireStocToT I Vj! rsrr 329" .- (ySf Orig- VOLANT SkiS SC. iM. Mill ifc.ik f'j WX 12S.M StN S12S.N StSO .S2S1M sna smms S7M , $269.91 StSO SIMM SAN MM RFZT.IU 1 1 1 1 H 1 1 1 TTlrfo W I . T V m. - lbfaMl MOtMW'MW&MMIeeli mBtmwmf '04 tan SmM Kntv SIM 340" mm fffm jar A ffi VMTMDtSICSS ) Dwnwi fJ VanstD6WN A m Vwtk JJ MXtOWM donor b aOMOWM MSSSSmf . Hi. WklDSI tWiir -ss NAXIAU taZrtl CaStodarfaate-diieswulado- it 800-642-99- 42 . USX wHMhrffmdlcil.w ZIERING MEDICAL A M1DICAI, 3l 0 i. V ; ( 509.W 'WmHttmnimmmi t flM ' tmum ' SWM iltl ill! L Ziering, I tmw TSITKM nr-n- rn the x Ml V. Craig mm' k l I |