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The United sale was the second billion-dollar deal for Boeing in less than a month. Three weeks ago, the Seattle aircraft manufacturer received a $2 billion order from Northwest for a fleet of ten 747s and ten 757s. At least some of those jumbo jets will be used to compete with United in the lucrative transpacific market, where Northwest currently reigns among U.S. carriers.
United's routes now span half the globe, and Richard Ferris, chairman of United's parent company, UAL, could be eyeing the other half. He may consider flying his airplanes to Europe, where competitors American and Northwest are already established.
CLOTHING Christie Brinkley's Belly FlopTo some she remains the curvy girl from SPORTS ILLUSTRATED'S swimsuit issues. To others she is the inspiration of Singer Billy Joel's Uptown Girl. But to Clothes Maker Russ Togs, Christie Brinkley, 31, is the name of a line of clothes that had a loss of more than $1 million in the six months ending in August. Last week the New York-based company dropped its Brinkley division, which it had kicked off in August 1983.
Russ Togs signed Brinkley to a three-year contract in the hope that she could help them get into the upscale sportswear market, but the effort largely failed. Brinkley blames Russ Togs for not promoting her product after an initial push. Says she: "The Russ Togs management was not equipped to put ideas into action."
Brinkley is not the first celebrity whose clothing line failed. Jane Fonda's exercising outfits were introduced in 1983, but they did poorly. Capri Beachwear, which marketed the apparel, filed for bankruptcy about a year later. Names can still help if the quality is good and the price is right. Tennis Player Evonne Goolagong Cawley and Supermodel Cheryl Tiegs have launched successful name-brand clothes in the past five years.
AUTOS Resuscitating the Air BagFrom the day General Motors began test marketing air bags in 1973, sales were flat. Car buyers declined to pay $225 for the optional safety device, and by the end of 1976 they had disappeared from auto showrooms. Now the Ford Motor Co. is trying an American air-bag comeback. Last week the carmaker said it will carry driver-side air bags as an $815 extra on four-door models of the 1986 Ford Tempo and Mercury Topaz.
Last year Ford offered air bags as an option to volume buyers like companies and the Federal Government. It sold 7,400 air-bag-equipped Topaz cars during the 1985 model year, out of total sales of 377,555. Although air bags do little good when a driver gets sideswiped, they have already helped prevent serious injuries, and possibly deaths, in head-on collisions. On a wet Connecticut road, the car of one Traveler's Insurance employee skidded into a truck carrying propane gas, but she walked away with minor bruises.
Mercedes-Benz will have air bags as standard equipment on all 1986 U.S. models. During the past two years, Mercedes has offered air bags as an option. Of the 155,000 cars sold in that period, 18,000 had air bags.