ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, April 11, 1997 TAG: 9704110047
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
US Airways threatens to jettison routes
If US Airways can't reach a cost-cutting agreement with its labor unions, it may start dropping unprofitable routes between the East and West coasts, in Florida and at its Baltimore hub.
And to simplify its fleet - which includes models from three manufacturers - it may ground certain types of planes to save money on training and spare parts.
These possibilities were laid out Thursday to employees in Charlotte, N.C., one of many such meetings that the chairman and chief executive of US Airways, Stephen M. Wolf, and its president, Rakesh Gangwal, are holding this month around the airline's system.
The two executives repeated often that they would prefer to expand the airline and invest in new aircraft. But because of its inability to earn a profit on many routes, they said, US Airways might be forced to shrink to a regional carrier if it is unable to cut costs.
Gangwal said the company has lost hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years because of increased competition, and the problem is going to spread as low-cost carriers such as Southwest Airlines, Valujet and Delta Express - the budget arm of Delta Air Lines - continue to expand.
-ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mortgage rates down
WASHINGTON - Interest rates on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages fell to 8.15 percent this week from a seven-month high of 8.18 percent last week, but it's still more than half a percentage point higher than the 7.56 percent average seven weeks earlier, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. said Thursday, based on its weekly survey of about 125 lenders.
On one-year adjustable-rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 5.91 percent, the highest since the week ended Aug. 1 and up from 5.8 percent last week.
Fifteen-year mortgages averaged 7.67 percent, down from 7.7 percent.
-ASSOCIATED PRESS
LENGTH: Short : 45 linesby CNB