Business News

American Airlines' parent company says it will return as many as 30 Boeing 717s that had been part of the TWA fleet.

The U.S. Air Force seeks approval to order 40 C-130J-30 aircraft from Lockheed Martin over the next five years.

Darden Restaurants Inc. plans to convert eight former Grady's restaurants into Smokey Bones BBQ outlets, speeding up the barbecue chain's expansion in the southeast, company officials said Thursday.

Mortage rates, helped by some comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, fell this week with 30-year mortgages dropping once again below the 7 percent level.

Delta Connection is adding daily nonstop Canadair regional jet service between Asheville, N.C., and Delta hubs in Atlanta and Cincinnati.

While the depressed economy has the rest of the state scrambling to fill empty hotel rooms, a resort company has begun a 1,000-room expansion in this Florida Panhandle city.

Regions Financial Corporation today announced earnings for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2001. Net income totaled $138.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2001, compared to $128.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2000.

Construction of new homes and apartments fell 3.3 percent in December but the total housing activity for the year managed a solid 2.2 percent increase, a remarkable achievement for an industry that normally is one of the hardest hit during a recession.

The drop in air travel after the Sept. 11 attacks hurt earnings of Northwest Airlines Corp., which reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $256 million Thursday, excluding a federal airline bailout grant and other nonrecurring items.

Citigroup said Thursday its earnings rose 37 percent in the fourth quarter, narrowly beating analysts' expectations, despite charges for bad loans to Argentina and the bankrupt Enron Corp.