BUSINESS BRIEFS
American Airlines resumes normal flight schedules
Advertiser Staff and News Services
American Airlines said yesterday that its flights had resumed normal schedules after last week's mass cancellations, and issued directions for customers seeking compensation or alternate flights.
"It's been a good day. We're back to full operational schedule," said American spokesman Charley Wilson.
As of late yesterday, the airline was still re-routing passengers whose flights had been canceled. "We are still scaling that peak," Wilson said. "We're not quite there yet."
Passengers with reservations today would be able to board their scheduled flights, he said.
Inspections of the airline's fleet of MD-80 jets — which are on average 18 years old — caused the abrupt cancellations of more than 2,000 flights. More than 100,000 travelers were affected.
The airline said customers with reservations on canceled flights were entitled to full refunds. Additionally, any passengers who had been scheduled to fly on American's MD-80 flights between Tuesday and yesterday, including on flights that weren't canceled, may reschedule their trips through Thursday without paying the usual change fees.
BLOCKBUSTER BIDS FOR CIRCUIT CITY
Blockbuster Inc., the world's largest movie-rental chain, made an unsolicited bid for Circuit City Stores Inc., the second-largest U.S. electronics retailer, worth at least $1 billion.
Blockbuster said today that it wrote to Circuit City Chief Executive Officer Philip Schoonover offering at least $6 a share, subject to due diligence. Blockbuster said it's making details of the bid public after Circuit City didn't allow access to its books.
Both chains have suffered as more people turn to the Internet to rent films and buy computers and TVs. Circuit City is firing-higher-paid workers to reduce costs as same-store sales decline, while Dallas-based Blockbuster lost money last year and is cutting marketing costs and shedding unprofitable customers.
MORE CARS USING HIGH-COST GAS
At a time of record pump prices for regular gas, automakers are introducing more cars that use even costlier premium.
The number of new vehicle models that need — or at least run better on — the priciest gasoline has steadily risen from 166 in the 2002 model year to 282 this year, shows an analysis by Kelley Blue Book at the request of USA Today.
More may be on the way. Automakers are turning to smaller, high-performance engines, which use premium as a way to boost mileage without losing power.
Being able to boast of a couple more miles per gallon can be a selling point but won't quell the ire down the road of buyers having to put in the glamour gas, says David Champion, auto testing chief for "Consumer Reports."
"People really, really, really dislike putting premium into their car," Champion says. "You see the cheaper fuel right in front of you, and you can't use it."
WACHOVIA MAY GET $7B IN CAPITAL
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Wachovia Corp. said yesterday it will move up the release of its first-quarter financial results, an announcement that closely followed a report that the nation's fourth-largest bank is about to get a multibillion-dollar cash infusion.
The Charlotte-based bank, which is struggling to digest its admittedly ill-timed purchase of mortgage lender Golden West Financial Corp., was scheduled to report before the market opened today. The bank had been set to report its results Friday.
The change was announced shortly after The Wall Street Journal reported Wachovia was working on the final terms of a deal that would bring in between $6 billion and $7 billion of capital.
In return, the investor group would get shares priced at roughly $23 to $24 apiece — about an 18 percent discount to Wachovia's closing share price Friday of $27.81.
