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Airline Pensions

United States. Congress. House. Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Subcommittee on Aviation

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 264


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The airline industry generates operating revenues of $172 billion in 2007, amounting to over 1% of the U.S. gross domestic product. It carried more than 700 million passengers in 2007. Airline deregulation in 1978 led, at least in part, to increasingly volatile airline profitability, resulting in periods of significant losses and bankruptcies. In response, some airlines have proposed or are considering merging with or acquiring another airline. This report describes: (1) the financial condition of the U.S. passenger airline industry; (2) whether the industry is becoming more or less competitive; (3) why airlines seek to merge with or acquire other airlines; and (4) the role of fed. authorities in reviewing proposed airline mergers and acquisitions. Charts and tables.
Since 2001 the U.S. airline industry has lost over $30 billion. Delta, Northwest, United, & US Air. have filed for bankruptcy, the latter two terminating & transferring their pension plans to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC). The net claim on PBGC from these terminations was $9.7 billion; plan participants lost $5.3 billion in benefits. Many in the industry have maintained that airlines' use of bankruptcy protection as a means to continue operations is harmful to the industry. This debate has received even sharper focus with pension defaults. This report details: (1) the role of bankruptcy in the airline industry, (2) whether bankruptcies are harming the industry, & (3) the effect of airline pension underfunding on employees, airlines, & the PBGC. Illus.
In early May 2010, United Air Lines and Continental Airlines announced plans to merge the two airlines and signed a merger agreement. The passenger airline industry has struggled financially over the last decade, and these two airlines believe a merger will strengthen them. However, as with any proposed merger of this magnitude, this one will be carefully examined by the U.S. Dept. of Justice to determine if its potential benefits for consumers outweigh the potential negative effects. This statement describes: (1) an overview of the factors that are driving mergers in the industry; (2) the role of federal authorities in reviewing merger proposals; and (3) key issues associated with the proposed merger of United and Continental. Illustrations.
Fran Hawthorne, author of Pension Dumping, is a recipient of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants award for Excellence in Financial Journalism for 2009—the first year books have been honored. Pension plans in America no longer represent commitments that financially troubled companies will honor. Neither bankruptcy courts, nor Washington, nor unions have the clout to make them do so. The disposition of these plans is instead left to serve the needs of big investors. Often these investors are a failing company’s best hope of restructuring after bankruptcy. Investors want a lean investment unburdened with financial promises to employees no longer on the payroll. Despite laws passed to discourage the termination of plans, the courts allow it, caving in to the forces garnered to reinvigorate a failing company. Unions are often compelled to choose between the financial welfare of retirees and jobs for active workers. Pension Dumping explains in shocking detail how terminating the pension plan became a knee-jerk strategy for bankrupt companies that hope to attract big investors to help them reorganize. Hawthorne traces the dynamics and the players involved as a pension is targeted for termination: thebankruptcy court and the hierarchy of power that dictates whose interests will prevail the choices forced on unions the burden placed on the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation the risks investors take and the returns they look for the companies’ efforts to salvage what they can as they restructure, as well as the backlash they risk by breaking pension promises In 2008, Pension Dumping was cited in testimony before a Congressional committee investigating bankruptcies in relation to pensions.