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 Boeing Selects St. Louis for Headquarters of Major Military Program ST. LOUIS, (SLFP.com), April 6, 2003 - The Boeing/SAIC Lead Systems Integrator program office for Future Combat Systems, or FCS, will be headquartered in St. Louis, effective June 1, 2003. Approximately 150 new jobs are anticipated in St. Louis by September 2003 and that number will grow to 400-500 by the end of 2004, primarily in the areas of system and software engineering, and business management. In an announcement, Jim Albaugh, president and CEO, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, stated, "Selection of St. Louis as the headquarters site was based upon its strategic location, central to many customer, partner and Boeing facilities and co-located with Boeing IDS headquarters. The selection reflects the high priority we give this program. We share the Army's commitment to transformation success, and working with the customer, are poised to deliver an effective, sustainable system that will meet future battlefield requirements." Boeing-SAIC program officials anticipate work and staffing opportunities will increase significantly over the next two years at several operational sites around the country, pending a favorable "Milestone B" decision as the program transitions into the system development and demonstration (SDD) phase in June. "This is a huge vote of confidence in St. Louis by Boeing," said Senator Christopher S. "Kit" Bond, a senior member of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. "I have worked with Boeing for many years to chart a long-term plan for the company's continued presence in St. Louis, and this decision is the latest good news to flow from that effort." In addition to St. Louis headquarters with approximately 15,000 people on site, Boeing anticipates job growth at Houston, Texas; Huntsville, Ala.; Mesa, Ariz.; Philadelphia, Pa.; Puget Sound, Wash.; Southern California; and the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. SAIC sites will include Detroit, Mich. and Orlando, Fla. Other industry sites around the country will also be impacted as contract awards are let and work is dispersed. Court Upholds Law Banning Junk Faxes ST. LOUIS, (SLFP.com), April 4, 2003 - The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that upheld as constitutional a portion of the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) banning unsolicited fax advertising. In a statement, Attorney General Jay Nixon said, "This is an important privacy victory for consumers and for the small businesses that see their fax machines jammed with these junk faxes. There's no constitutional right to annoy people or to shift the cost of advertising to the recipient." Last year, Nixon had filed a federal lawsuit to stop American Blast Fax Inc., a Texas business, from faxing unsolicited ads to Missouri homes and businesses. Nixon said the company was violating the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) by sending unsolicited advertising to thousands of fax machines in homes, businesses, churches, schools, government offices in St. Louis and other parts of the state. The TCPA makes it illegal to send unsolicited advertising to a fax machine. "For anyone whose fax machine is constantly tied up as it spits out surveys, offers for discount travel packages, and - perhaps most insulting of all - ads for fax machine paper and toner, this is a blow to stop the deluge of paper," Nixon said. "These advertising faxes shift the cost of paper, toner and lost fax line availability squarely on the unwilling recipient, and that is just wrong. The ruling from the appeals court directs the district court to again take up Nixon's lawsuit against Fax.com and American Blast Fax in consideration of their ruling. Airlines in Fight to Survive CHICAGO, (BUSINESS WIRE), March 30, 2003 - Following the start of the war in Iraq, U.S. airlines are again facing a period of heightened uncertainty regarding future revenues, volatile fuel costs and accelerating cash losses. Particularly on international routes, where demand has fallen the most, the U.S. network carriers have announced plans to adjust capacity levels in the coming weeks in an effort to re-balance supply with demand. Based on expected traffic patterns in April and the implementation of announced industry capacity cuts, Fitch Ratings estimates that the April cash flow impact of the war on the seven largest U.S. carriers will be in the range of $600 million to $700 million. A gradual recovery in demand in May and beyond is likely, but the timing of any rebound will be highly sensitive to the pace of the military campaign in Iraq and the appearance of any war-related terrorism. Beyond war-related demand effects, jet fuel prices remain highly volatile as a result of uncertainty over the course of the war in Iraq. While early progress in securing Iraq's Ramallah oil fields quickly pushed crude oil and jet fuel prices down from their high pre-war levels, the airlines continue to face the risk of rapid price spikes until the security of Iraqi crude oil supplies is ensured. Fuel hedging policies have assumed greater importance in recent weeks as jet fuel prices soared prior to the start of the war. The hedging approaches of the major carriers vary widely, ranging from complete or near-complete 2003 hedges (Southwest and Northwest) to a total absence of hedging (United). The start of the war compounds the pressure on American Airlines (American) to quickly reach agreement with its unionized employee groups to bring labor costs down while liberalizing union work rules to meet the challenges posed by low-cost carriers. American's schedule overlap with low-cost carriers in its domestic network now stands at 82%. Management is targeting annual labor cost reductions of about $1.8 billion. With cash losses mounting and an impaired liquidity position, the timing of new labor deals will be critical in American's effort to avoid a Chapter 11 filing over the next few weeks. On March 20 American announced that about 6% of international capacity would be reduced in April as a result of the war's impact on demand. Additional capacity adjustments are likely in view of the weak demand outlook. Some progress toward new labor agreements has been made recently, providing some hope that restructuring can occur outside of Chapter 11. On March 26 American's pilots indicated that an agreement to cut pilot costs by $660 million annually could be considered by the Allied Pilots Association Board by March 31. However, negotiations appear to have been blocked by disagreements over American's decision to furlough an additional 1,000 ex-TWA pilots. On March 27 American reached a tentative agreement with its ramp workers, represented by the Transport Workers Union (TWU). No cost reduction deals have been reached with either the mechanics or flight attendants. American appears to be working toward concluding all of these deals in the next few days. STL-News is owned and maintained by the Moore Design Group as a special feature of the Saint Louis Front Page for the sole purpose of disseminating news and information about the Metropolitan Saint Louis area. Text or graphics may not be copied, rewritten or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission. 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