PBGC takes on US Air pension plans

The PBGC assumed responsibility for the underfunded US Airways Group Inc. pension plans for flight attendants, machinists and passenger service agents. According to the agency's estimates, together the three plans have a $2.5 billion gap between the plans' combined $1.7 billion in assets and $4.2 billion in liabilities. The agency estimates it will be responsible for $2.3 billion in benefits, in addition to the $726 million in benefits the pension insurance agency took over when the Arlington, Va., airline shut down its pilots pension plan in 2003. The financially troubled airline's claims of $3 billion are the second largest in the history of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., second only to the $3.7 billion liabilities from Bethlehem Steel.