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BUSINESS A25
Thursday 10 September
Lockheed Martin says to cut 500 information systems jobs
BETHESDA, Md. (AP) — Lock- about 112,000 people glob- the cuts “to remain com- tin had said in July that it align the segment with cus-
heed Martin is eliminating ally, so the cuts amount to petitive in an extremely was reviewing options for tomer needs.
about 500 jobs from its In- less than 1 percent of its to- challenging environment its government information The layoff announcement
formation Systems & Global tal workforce. where industry dynam- technology and technical comes more than a month
Solutions segment, as the The Bethesda, Maryland, ics have shifted, customer services business, mainly after Lockheed Martin
defense contractor adjusts company said Wednesday budgets are constrained in Information Systems & Corp. announced plans to
to changing government the reductions will include and competition has con- Global Solutions. spend $9 billion on Black
priorities and tries to sharp- voluntary and involuntary tinued to escalate,” execu- The company said Wednes- Hawk helicopter maker
en its competitiveness. layoffs and will be complet- tive Sondra Barbour said day that the layoffs weren’t Sikorsky Aircraft, as it seeks
The aerospace and de- ed by mid-November. in a statement from the tied to that review but were greater access to the mili-
fense company employs The contractor is making company. Lockheed Mar- part of a bigger effort to tary and commercial heli-
copter market.q
United CEO Jeff Smisek steps down amid federal investigation
DAVID KOENIG erty International Airport, a financial turnaround. It rocky integration of United than Delta Air Lines to re-
AP Airlines Writer was negotiating with the earned $1.7 billion in the and Continental Airlines. turn to profitability follow-
United Airlines abruptly re- Port Authority over projects first half of 2015, a nearly Smisek was chairman and ing the recession. The criti-
placed its CEO as a fed- at the airport at the same
eral investigation contin- time.United said the depar- United Airlines Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Smisek, speaks at the National
ued into whether the airline tures announced Tuesday Press Club in Washington. United Airlines said that Smisek has stepped down as CEO, chairman
gave preferential treat- were the result of the fed- and president effective immediately and has named Oscar Munoz as president and chief execu-
ment to a former chairman eral probe and its own in- tive officer.
of the agency that oper- vestigation into the matter.
ates the New York-area air- Samson, a former state (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
ports who has political ties attorney general in New
to New Jersey Gov. and Jersey, headed Christie’s 10-fold increase over the CEO of Continental and cism was compounded by
presidential candidate transition team and was first half of 2014, helped by took the same jobs with several embarrassing com-
Chris Christie. appointed chairman of tumbling fuel costs. United after the airlines puter outages, the latest in
Federal prosecutors are the Port Authority by Chris- But Smisek’s tenure was merged in 2010. He was June and July, that led to
probing United’s ties to tie in in 2011. He resigned marred by criticism over under pressure for several hundreds of delayed and
David Samson, the former in March 2014, several technology glitches and a years as United was slower canceled flights. q
chairman of the Port Au- months after the scandal
thority of New York and surrounding politically moti-
New Jersey. vated lane closures at the
United Continental Hold- George Washington Bridge
ings Inc. said Tuesday that the previous September.
Jeffery Smisek and two oth- Samson has not been
er senior executives had charged with any crimi-
stepped down. Oscar Mu- nal wrongdoing, nor have
noz, a railroad executive any United executives. A
and head of United’s audit spokesman for the U.S. At-
committee, was named torney’s Office in New Jer-
CEO and president. sey declined to comment
United began a direct flight on the matter.
between Newark, New Jer- On a late afternoon con-
sey, and Columbia, South ference call with analysts,
Carolina, where Samson United executives declined
has a summer home, while to say what the investiga-
he was chairman and end- tions have found and what
ed it days after he resigned prompted the shake-up.
last year. United, the domi- Smisek’s departure comes
nant airline at Newark Lib- as United shows signs of
Army awards Indiana company $428M ambulance contract
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — for the National Guard un- AM General had not been it was laying off 400 workers China, saying it had signed
AM General, which two der the initial phase of the awarded a contract to at its plant in Mishawaka a multi-year contract with
weeks ago lost out on a multi-year contract. build a combat vehicle to because of unexpected the German automaker.
major Department of De- The vehicles will be pro- replace a large share of delays in foreign military The SUVs began rolling
fense contract, has been duced at AM General’s the U.S. military’s Humvee spending. The civilian side off the assembly line last
awarded a $428 million plant in Mishawaka, about troop carriers. That $6.7 of the plant stopped mak- month.
contract by the Army to 10 miles east of its head- billion contract went to ing the Hummer H2 in 2009. The company continues
build Humvee ambulances quarters in South Bend, In- Wisconsin-based Oshkosh AM General stopped mak- to sell Humvees to foreign
for domestic disaster relief diana. The company didn’t Corp. AM General said ing the gas-guzzling Hum- militaries. It announced in
efforts by the Army, Army say if the contract would Tuesday it will not protest mer H1 in 2006. July it was awarded a $373
Reserve and Army National lead to an expansion of its that contract. But the company an- million multi-year contract
Guard. workforce. The loss of the combat ve- nounced in January that its to provide Humvees and
The company announced The contract follows an hicle contract was a big civilian division would be- spare part for Afghani-
Tuesday it will receive $89.5 announcement by the blow for AM General, which gin making Mercedes-Benz stan, Iraq, Kenya, Lebanon,
million to build 654 vehicles Defense Department that two years ago announced R-Class SUVs to be sold in Ukraine and Tunisia.q
