By Flickr user Luis Argerich

Reading John Fuquay’s piece in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about AMR Corp.’s pensions gave me flashbacks to my days of covering bankruptcy at Bloomberg News. His article helps readers understand why AMR’s projections of its pension obligations are 42 percent less than the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.’s calculations. Pensions aren’t the easiest topics to decipher, but John’s piece made the topic understandable. He writes:

“So who’s right? And why is the money American Airlines’ parent has put aside to cover those obligations so far short of meeting them – $5.2 billion by AMR’s estimate, and about $10 billion by the pension agency’s?

As it turns out, both figures are accurate – based on professionally accepted assumptions used by each party to arrive at its estimate.”

Today’s Tip: Use 10K filings to determine how much companies put into their pension plans.

Jim Fuquay

You can access 10K filings by searching the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissions website. You also can check  PBCG’s site to see which plans have been taken over by the government.

John says the filings offer detailed footnotes on how much companies put into the plans and the assumptions on which they base that amount. The downside, he says, is that the information gets dated the farther into the year you go.

Experts at the PBGC can explain the technical aspects of the pensions, but John also suggests finding someone who “doesn’t have a dog in the fight.”

Despite having written about pensions before, John says he had to delay the story to understand the company contributions and the impact of legislative changes on pensions.

“It got complicated, he says. “If you can’t explain it to yourself, you’re not going to explain to readers very well at all. Boil it down then boil it down again.”

After 2011 turned out to be the second-costliest ever year in terms of disasters, from tsunamis to floods to quakes to volcanic eruptions — the corporate world and insurers must’ve been hoping for a break in 2012.  This article from The Atlantic even dubbed it “2011: The year of the disaster” and is a good recap of the year in case you need facts and figures for context.

Yet the Friday-the-13th sinking of the Costa Concordia off the coast of Italy — with six passengers known dead as I write and a couple dozen more still missing out of some 4,000 souls aboard – is an inauspicious start to 2012.  And with the compelling and surreal photos of the wreck still dominating headlines and news sites, it’s not too far-fetched for business beat reporters to seek some ties to the story that has global audiences riveted.

Reporters in cities home to major ports of call can check in with tour operators, support sectors such as hotels, car services, caterers and even airports/airlines about what they’re hearing from prospective passengers in light of early reports that suggest safety measures were lacking on the Costa Concordia.  As this Reuters story points out, travelers are nervous.

From a consumer /personal finance standpoint, a review of standard cancellation policies/customer recourse/travel insurance provisions would be a timely clip-and-save feature for readers.  In a similar vein, you might cast an eye toward major tourist venues in your region and ask experts to weigh in on preventative measures patrons can take.  What are the top safety issues at amusement parks, music venues (remember last summer’s Indiana State Fair stage collapse?), tall buildings, indoor shopping malls, conference centers, health systems and other large campuses?  The disasters need not be cataclysmic; even water main breaks, unexpected snow squalls and electrical malfunctions can require a disaster plan to be implemented.

Even if you don’t have a port, cruise line, shipyard or other maritime industry in your backyard, you still can look for disaster potential and preparedness among the major employers and industries that do affect your region.

Also think about workplace safety.  What large employment centers are in your region and what are the plans if something goes awry, from bad weather to a mechanical failure to a human meltdown?  Companies employ specialists to plan for disaster preparedness; seek out such experts in your region and talk to them about the contingencies they work around and the preparations they make.

Whom do they employ to help?   As I always say, “Who benefits?” — check in with loss-mitigation firms that specialize in cleaning up water or fire damage, consulting firms that help with disaster plans or compliance training and similar consultants or tradespeople.  On that note, and incorporating the insurance angle, here’s a blog post I wrote in December about natural disasters and related story ideas.

Meanwhile if you prefer to pursue the cruise angle, one way to tie it to financial journalism is to take a look at what — if any — corporate-incentive trips are originating in your area.  That is, reward travel for successful sales representatives and other employees, or cruises that incorporate professional conferences, conventions and other business get-togethers.  As this recent USA Today article notes, corporate-incentive travel is on the upswing — and you can gain more insight at the online version of Corporate and Incentive Travel magazine.  And here’s a survey about employee-incentive travel trends from consulting firm The Incentive Research Foundation.

And in a similar vein, check with hobby clubs and other groups about affinity cruises.  Lots of special-interest organizations book sea travel as a way of having combo vacations/gatherings — even commercial enterprises such as Turner Classic Movies and the QVC home-shopping channel have been known to invite devotees to weigh anchor.  Ferret out the firms in your region that help plan and promote such tours for a unique angle that — while perhaps not apropos on the heels of a fatal sea accident — will be fodder in your pocket for future tourism and marketing stories.

The Year of the Dragon is approaching. Credit: USA Today

Also known as Chinese New Year, the transition — based on a millenia-old tradition and reportedly the most important festival in the Chinese calendar — takes place on January 23 this year.  Celebrations, however, can span two weeks. 

The event is widely celebrated in a number of Asian countries, where it has significant effect on production and other facets of the economy.

Amazingly, for example, analysts credited a hike in gold prices last week to demand generated by the Lunar New Year, when people present one another with gifts of the precious metal, according to MarketWatch.  Airlines have scheduled to provide extra seats for people returning home to spend the holiday with family and friends; Malaysia Airlines, for example, has added 32 extra flights for the period before and after the New Year to accomodate demand.  And according to India Today, Chinese airlines have been asked to schedule a mind-boggling 14,000 (yes, 14,000) additonal flights during the “Spring Festival” as the new year is called. 

With so much holiday-related domestic travel in China, one wonders what the effect is on American firms doing business abroad, whether those with employees and a physical presence in China or the myriad small businesses that rely on Chinese manufacturing plants and the China-U.S. supply chain for wholesale and retail goods.  It might be ineresting to check with local retailers, light industrial operations, manufacturers and other companies to see if they plan for an annual disruption and what the business effects are.  You might also check with travel agents, tour operators, translators, vacation clubs and other globe-trotting entities in your area — do Lunar New Year jaunts translate into demand?

It’s fascinating to note that — as this New York Daily News article points out — the incoming Year of the Dragon represents the most powerful symbol in the Chinese zodiac; it’s thought to be a harbinger of good fortune, prosperity and wealth.  It’s expected that parents wanting to give their offspring the best possible start will have planned lots of extra births for the coming year, not only in China but in communities with strong Chinese ties. The Dragon year also bodes well for the Korean and Vietnamese communities, the article notes.  This is definitely something to check into with residents, doctors, hospitals, day-care centers and other facets of the economy likely to be affected by any sort of baby boost.  In China, demand for infant products is expected to rev up the economy, according to Businessweek.

And get this: The United State Treasury’s engraving and printing department in November even unveiled a special Year of the Dragon dollar bill – with serial number beginning with “8888″ (eight being an auspicious number in Chinese lore) that’s available for sale at www.moneyfactorystore.gov. 

Also,  commemoration is becoming more common around the globe, including in the United States.   Obviously if your community has a significant number of Chinese members, you might find businesses that are affected by observance — from a productivity standpoint, or through providing goods and services to those celebrating the holiday.  Here’s an interesting Wikipedia entry listing dozesn of U.S. communities with a significant Chinese population; that’s one way to start but don’t limit your reporting to Chinese companies or individuals only; I can say from personal experience that people of all heritage here in the U.S. acknowledge the transition in one fashion or another.

Just take a look at this list of activities posted by the San Francisco Chronicle, from a fun run to a symphony concert.

Casinos tie promotions and events to the Lunar New Year; one near me issues commemorative slot-player cards with the year’s symbol.  Aside from entertainment venues, check with party supply stores, caterers, specialty grocers.  Talk with employers about workplace issues and holiday policies.  Cards, e-cards, good luck charms, school activities — all of these items are supplied by some small businesses (and some large ones.)  Lunar New Year — especially with so many hopes tied to the Dragon year — is an upbeat, fun and colorful story that nevertheless can have substantive economic underpinnings.    Kung Hei Fat Choi!

Effective in January, interstate truck and bus drivers will be prohibited from using hand-held cell phones while operating their vehicle. Credit: Truckers News

I’ve been surprised, though, at how most journalists are seeking commentary from private individual and getting little input from truck drivers, small businesses and other commercial concerns whose traveling workers might use cell phones for more than ordinary yakking and info on what to pick up at the grocery store.

As you know, the NTSB recommendation is just a suggestion; the U.S. Department of Transportation or the states themselves would have to enact it.  And in fact,  35 states already ban texting for all drivers, and many ban cell phone use by school bus pilots and beginning motorists; see this handy chart from the National Conference of State legislatures, which also has other distracted driving material in its website’s transportation channel.   Editorials like this one from the Palm Beach Post already are calling a full-out ban “unlikely.”

But one ban you may not have heard of is about to take effect Jan. 3:  Interstate truck drivers no longer will be allowed to use hand-held devices, on pain of fines of $2,750 per violation.  This is a story worth looking into as workplace issue, a regulatory and compliance issue and an expense or liability issue for drivers and their employers.  Driver associations, for example, already are saying that enforcement of the new rule promulgated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will be enforced.

Here’s a list of major U.S. trucking firms from Yahoo! Finance; chances are some are in your backyard and if they handle interstate business, a business feature about how they plan to handle compliance, disciplinary action, driver education and other factors related to the ban could be quite interesting; the DOT has said that some 4 million drivers will be affected.  Your state transportation department can probably also direct you to local firms and driver associations.  Unions like the International Brotherhood of Teamsters may also be helpful on both the local and intrastate cell phone issues. If you have satellite radio, check out the trucking network; call-in program participants often divulge interesting behind-the-scenes info about the industry and you might hear some nuggets to follow up on.

Many third-party firms sell gadgets like on-board cameras, monitors that track driver behavior, driver education services and other safety-related consulting or hardware needs of the trucking industry; you might seek out some of these companies in your area for a fresh angle on how changes in laws ripple through the industry to create work and jobs for consultants.  And here’s an interesting column from TodaysTrucking.com that cites surveys which purport to show no significant risk for crash involvement by cell-phone using drivers.

This Seattle Times article gave a nod to the effect of a local ban on contractors and small businesses; you could enlarge upon that for a more detailed reaction story about the ways area businesses and commercial drivers use cell phones these days, and what a ban on all on-the-road communication might cost them in terms of time and money.

Photo: Aviation Queen / Benet Wilson

I felt a bit sad when American Airlines parent AMR Corp. announced it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier today, because it was the last of the “legacy” carriers, joining Delta, United, Continental and US Airways, to choose this option.

The rumors of this filing had been floating around for weeks, as the carrier felt itself increasingly weighted down by debt and labor costs.

The tipping point came when the carrier’s Allied Pilots Association, which has been in negotiations with American for five years, refused to forward a management contract proposal to its membership. And the carrier’s competitors had shed their higher costs and debt with their own bankruptcy filings or through an already established low-cost base.

So now what? Nothing really changes. The airline will continue to operate in the business-as-usual mode. If you’ve booked your holiday travel on American, you don’t need to panic — your flight will operate as usual. But if you’re concerned, you can always go to American Air’s website to check on the status of your flight.

But what does this mean in the long term? Labor is one of the highest cost centers at an airline, with fuel being another. You can expect American to get tougher with its labor costs, and it would not be surprising to see layoffs announced.

Photo: Aviation Queen / Benet Wilson

You may see some reduced flight frequencies in American’s larger non-hub cities. You may also see it cancel service in medium to smaller cities in the coming months.

The airline will also take the opportunity under Chapter 11 protection to shed some older aircraft, although it did announce a monster $40 billion order for 460 new jets this past July.

Meanhwhile, if you want to keep up with the latest on American Air as it goes through bankruptcy protection, check these resources:

• SEC filings;
• The American Airlines official restructuring website;
• The FAQ document for investors;
• 3rd quarter earnings release; and
• 2010 Annual Report.

Tortas Frontera serves tortas at Chicago O'Hare International Airport.

It wasn’t that long ago that when you walked through a facility, you would see the bare bones – Restaurant, Snack Bar, Gift Shop and Snacks.  But what a difference 20 years makes!

We are now seeing an explosion of new airport concession programs that offer a mix of local, regional and national brands in their terminals.  As airlines continue to consolidate and pay less in landing and facility fees, airports need to find different ways of bringing in revenue.  And with passengers spending more time in airports, facilities have a captive audience that has money to spend.

Airports handle their concessions in different ways.  On one side, Oregon’s Portland International Airport handles all its concessions internally.  On the other, Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport contracts with BAA Maryland for its retail and food/beverage outlets.

Other players in the airport concession market include Hudson Group, the Paradies Shops, OTG, Delaware North, Areas USA, Autogrill SpA, HMSHost and SSP America, among others.

Cousin's Barbecue is a popular spot in Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

A great example of an airport stepping up its game is Los Angeles International, which brought in $264.7 million in concession revenue in fiscal year 2010.  Back in the early 2000s, I spent a lot of time in this facility.  At the time, Terminal 1 had a pretty sad selection of concessions, and the rest of the terminals weren’t much better.  But after customer demand, Los Angeles World Airports, which oversees LAX, put out a request for proposal (RFP) on concessions in Terminals 2,4,5,7 and 8 back in September 2008.

In April 2008, LAWA’s Board of Airport Commissioners recommended concession agreements for five retail and five food/beverage firms.  Two years later, LAWA released an administrative review of all the concession agreements submitted. An exact amount of the value deal was not released, but numbers have reached north of $300 million.

On June 6, the Board of Airport Commissioners approved a 10-year contract to Delaware North Companies Travel Hospitality Services and its partner M/D Food Group for new food-and-beverage concessions in Terminal 5.  The new concessions will bring a taste of Southern California to LAX and includes: T & Y Bakery; Magee’s House of Nuts; Light my Fire spices; Ultimate Candy Company; Bennett’s Ice Cream and Three Dog Bakery; and The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.   LAWA says the new contract is expected to return a minimum revenue of $2 million for the first year and $20 million over the 10-year contract.

Airports with pending RFPs include Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson, Chicago Midway and O’Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Miami International.  So take a look at your local airport to see what’s up for bid.

This CNN report on the FAA budget was broadcast in March 2011.

One of the big hold-ups in getting a permanent reauthorization bill passed is the Department of Transportation’s (PDF) Essential Air Service (EAS) program, budgeted at $200 million in fiscal year 2011.

EAS was created after the airline deregulation bill became law back in 1978 as a way to ensure that small communities would not lose their connection to the global aviation transportation system.  It was felt that in a post-deregulation world, these communities would lose service as the airlines focused on more profitable routes, so Congress would offer financial subsidies to airlines to fly these routes. Among online resources are: FY 2010 financial numbers for U.S. and Alaska subsidized flying.

I have a unique view of EAS, having covered it as a journalist who covered the regional airline industry for almost 10 years and as an employee of an airline that pursued funding from the program.  I feel  — and I’m not alone – that EAS either needs a major revamp or should be replaced by a more effective program.  But whenever a call goes out to redo the program — or even cut it altogether — members of Congress literally come out of the woodwork to keep the program in place, even though it makes no sense financially.

A July 2009 report from the Government Accountability Office says “The EAS program has changed relatively little in 30 years, but current conditions raise concerns about whether the program can continue to operate as it has.”

SMALL COMMUNITIES

Travelers just aren’t using the service.  Even with the subsidies, the flights can be too expensive.  Most people in EAS communities prefer to find other transportation to a larger airport with better service options. I saw this up close and personal when I worked for the airline.  We were bidding on the EAS contract for Alamogordo, N.M.  Instead of using the EAS flight, we did what most other travelers did —  flew into El Paso, rented a car and drove the 80 miles to the city.  Alamogordo currently receives $1.169 million a year in federal flight subsidies.

Airlines don’t want to operate the flights anymore, despite the subsidies, because rising fuel prices and other costs makes the flying unprofitable.  In 1987, 34 carriers flew EAS flights. By 2009, only 10 were still flying them and the numbers continue to drop, according to GAO.

Prospects for small community air service would be better if the emphasis was on providing flights that travelers would actually use.  DOT tried to do this by creating the  Small Community Air Service Development Program, which provides $15 million a year in grants to help develop more effective service.

Unable to get a car loan, Tiffany Lee went to Repossess Auto Sales, a Buy Here Pay Here dealer in Hawthorne, Calif.

Ken Bensinger of the Los Angeles Times takes us into the seemingly seedy side of used-car sales and financing in a three-part series about the Buy Here Pay Here world where, as Ken writes, “they have found a way to turn clunkers into cash cows and make money off the least creditworthy customers.”

Companies charge interest rates as high as 30 percent and use high-tech tools to quickly repossess cars when payments aren’t made.  He writes:

“About 1 in 4 buyers default. In the real estate and credit card industries, that would be bad news. In the world of Buy Here Pay Here, it’s just another avenue for profit: The car can be repossessed and put back on the lot for sale in short order. A new buyer makes a down payment, takes on a high-interest loan, and the cycle starts anew.”

Today’s Tip: Follow the paper trail to get into the Buy Here Pay Here ‘protective cocoon,’ Ken says.

Ken starts the story with the tale of a woman who filed for bankruptcy protection, but was lured to the dealership on the pretense of refinancing the loan. Ken found her story by searching bankruptcy filings. In asking the court for permission to get the car back (officially called a motion for relief from stay), the dealership filed papers noting the interest rate (20.7 percent) charged. Shockingly, the company also admitted to luring the woman with the intention of repossessing the car, Ken says.

Ken Bensinger

By searching civil lawsuits, Ken says he found one couple who sued a dealership, claiming they were misled by the terms of their loan with its 25.99 percent interest rate.

Department of Motor Vehicles data can show how many times a car has sold, Ken says. As he notes in the story, one dealership sold 900 cars at least three times each since 2006.

Some states such as Missouri and Utah require dealers to report each sale. Reporters can search that information for duplicated vehicle identification numbers (VINs) to see how frequently a car gets sold, Ken says.

Reporters can find dealers by looking for ads with “pay here.” Also, try searching Auto Dealer Monthly’s articles on Buy Here Pay Here (BHPH). Some of the larger dealership owners often submit articles.

Check organizations such as the National Alliance of Buy Here, Pay Here Dealers (NABD) and the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA). The mostly private dealerships often aren’t very forthcoming about financials, and the organizations can provide overviews.

Ken, who was a Pulitzer finalist in 2010 for his reporting on Toyota’s safety issues, did a little something different for a question-and-answer sidebar. He recorded short video answers for each question.

Images from the home page of NYTimes.com

Tuning in to airlines’ earnings — here’s a great New York Times piece about how a la carte fees are helping carriers back to profitability – brought me up short with the realization that we’re only about five weeks from the so-called busiest travel weekend of the year, the long Thanksgiving holiday.

The problem is, if you don’t have one of the few remaining legacy carriers or large new airlines like JetBlue headquartered near you, covering the air biz from a financial standpoint can fall a bit flat.  Then you’re left with mostly consumer pieces about travel insurance, what to do if you’re bumped, etc. — and while worthwhile and interesting, those angles can feel a bit worn.

Why not start a bit early and ferret out some small, medium and large business stories from among the myriad businesses that serve, supply and synergize with the airlines and airport operations?   When you think about it, air fields are like their own little city, with everything from Main Street shops to fuel stations to police to unions to landscapers to people who maintain supplies of food, water, energy and upkeep.  And like the airlines, the fortunes of these businesses ebb and flow with economic fortunes, travel and cargo trends, regulations and other factors.   That means no mater what your journalistic beat — from careers and workplace to technology to finance, manufacturing or small business — you can probably find multiple ways to illustrate the local economic impact of the coming holiday travel season.

Start with your region’s economic development organization and the airport operator or authority themselves; no doubt they have a relatively recent document touting the airport’s contribution, like this one about Seattle’s Sea-Tac Airport.  You never know what you might find by rooting around; on the Port of Seattle site (they oversee the airport too) there’s a draft of a proposal to include worker-retention requirements in future concession contracts; public comments are being solicited.  Interesting and that makes me wonder what else is standard in concession contracts.  The Sea-Tac page also notes that it employs 22,000 people directly and 14,000 in related off-site jobs; a significant worker population.

How to find all of the contractors, vendors and services dependent on airport business?  I found a little bonanza on the Airport Magazine site; a vendor search function broken down by categories ranging from runway beacons to interior design to cup holders to cleaning to — get this — pet relief areas.

Philippine Airlines food service looks pretty foreign to most air travelers these days. Photo by Flickr user Chew Chua

Cameras, credentializing services, construction — it’s all there, just click a few categories that correspond to your beats or story angles and up will pop an array of vendors.  A bit of trial and error and you’ll doubtless find some that serve your neck of the woods.

Food service is always interesting; this Air Gourmet company out of Los Angeles caters food for aircraft; something tells me it handles the upscale private set rather than the Pringles concession on budget commercial flights; I bet they have some interesting stories to tell about the effect of the economy on private plane fare.  Cleaning is another basic task that provides jobs and prosperity for some local businesses.  I once had a cleaning worker tell me that planes are only vacummed every 100 days; it’s nagged at me ever since — surely she meant “100 hours” or even “100 flights” ?  I don’t know, but a story about cutting aircraft cleaning costs is lurking in there somewhere — find the local counterpart at your airport.

The Transportation Research Board has a number of interesting publications on topics ranging from airport-area wildlife management problems to a survival guide for small airports.  Imagine being the geese-management staffer (or contractor) at the local airfield, or the person who logs the flight plans of private jets a small general aviation field.   Plenty of careers fodder there.

This photo of a train engineer is by Flickr user Rennett Stowe.

When I read Mina Kimes’s article in Fortune about the consolidation of the U.S. railroad industry and the conflict between freight operators and shippers, I got excited. She weaved the history, the fight and the legislation so effectively, I couldn’t stop reading.

Her lede — and kicker — focuses on the sales chief of M&G Polymers, a plastic-pellet maker in Apple Grove, W.Va. She describes Fred Fournier as “an earnest, affable type,” who “seems almost tormented by his anger as he describes his dealings with CSX,” one of the nation’s four remaining big railroads and the only one serving his plant. Fournier has been protesting since the end of 2008, when CSX nearly doubled his rates.

As the subhead on her story says:

“With 90 percent of U.S. rail freight now controlled by only four companies, shippers claim the giants have unfairly banded together.”

Mina Kimes

Producing a story like this one. which runs 4,400 words, requires some serious organizing, Mina says.

“Features that are about ideas – as opposed to profiles or narratives – can be difficult to report and write,” she says. “You’re constantly being pulled in a million different directions, which is why it’s important to formulate a clear reporting plan.”

Today’s first tip: Organize your reporting into categories, Mina says.
She organized her notes into topics such as legislation, government reports and history. In the end she had more than a dozen categorized folders, she says. Those folders make it easier to set reporting goals such as “finish reading legal documents this week” and help ease the writing process.

Today’s second tip: Outline with the reader in mind.

“Idea-driven stories don’t always have clear narratives, which poses a structural challenge,” Mina says. “When I outline, I set aside my notes and focus on storytelling.”

Instead of using the categories to piece the story together, she says she outlines her story based on what questions readers will have. She then uses her organized notes to flesh out the details.