The Boeing Co. and United Airlines finalized an order for 25 Dreamliner jets, the two said on Thursday. The order was announced last December, when United also said it would buy 25 of Airbus’ A350s. But the deal wasn’t completed until this month. United’s order for 25 Boeing 787-8 jets also includes an option to buy another 50 Dreamliners. The order is valued at $4.2 billion at list prices, which airlines rarely pay. United’s order was added to Boeing’s orders tally Thursday. Boeing also logged a request from an unidentified customer for 20 737s. That brings Boeing’s year-to-date order total to 55. Boeing now has 876 orders for its 787 Dreamliner.
Apple declared No. 1 music retailer
Apple Inc. said Thursday that it has sold 10 billion songs from the iTunes Store since it opened in 2003, cementing its position as the world’s largest music retailer. The 10 billionth song was “Guess Things Happen That Way” by Johnny Cash, bought by Louie Sulcer of Woodstock, Ga. He will receive a $10,000 gift card. The music store sold around 25 million tracks in 2003. Three years later, it surpassed the 1 billion mark. Separately, Apple was set to hold its annual shareholder meeting Thursday at its headquarters in Cupertino, Calif.
Madoff aide accused of cooking the books
A top aide to Bernard Madoff has made an initial court appearance in New York on charges he helped the convicted swindler cook his books. Daniel Bonventre faces conspiracy, securities fraud and tax charges. The judge set his bail at $5 million. Bonventre was expected to post bail and be released later Thursday. Bonventre is the former operations director for Bernard Madoff Investment Securities. He also was sued Thursday by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC accused him of falsifying accounting records both to disguise Madoff’s multibillion-dollar fraud and illegally enrich himself. Madoff is serving a 150-year prison sentence. He admitted cheating investors out of billions of dollars through an investment Ponzi scheme.
Snowstorm scrubs New York flights
Airlines are canceling many of their New York flights because of snow. Continental Airlines and its regional partners scrubbed about 270 flights Thursday at its Newark hub. That’s more than half its schedule there. Delta, another major East Coast carrier, is reporting 250 cancellations. US Airways canceled 356 flights because of bad weather in the New York area, Philadelphia, and Washington. American Airlines dropped more than one-third of its flights in the New York area and Philadelphia. A spokesman for the New York airports says there are no plans to close them. The storm was expected to snarl flights into today. Still, airlines appeared unlikely to top the 13,000 cancellations during the massive East Coast snowstorm earlier this month.
From Herald news services
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