Bill Aimed at Foiling Icahn Bid for TWA

Senate Commerce Committee chairman John C. Danforth said Friday that he had introduced a bill to make the attempted takeover of Trans World Airlines by investor Carl Icahn less attractive.

Danforth’s bill would require the secretary of transportation to revoke the international air certificate for any airline acquired in a hostile takeover. TWA, which is fighting Icahn’s proposal, has numerous routes to Europe and the Middle East.

The Missouri Republican said in a statement that he introduced the bill because of reports that Icahn was more interested in liquidating TWA’s assets than in operating it as an airline.

“It is widely believed that Icahn’s intention is not to maintain the operations of the company,” he said. “He has no experience in operating an airline, and, in the view of independent analysts, has no sound financial plan to do so.

“Thus, it is a certainty that if Icahn’s takeover attempt succeeds, and if TWA’s assets are liquidated, the nation will be deprived of a significant air carrier.”

Danforth said that his bill is co-sponsored by 13 of the 16 Commerce Committee members and that hearings will be held in June. Another co-sponsor is Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole of Kansas, husband of Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Hanford Dole.

Icahn has bought 24% of TWA’s stock and offered $18 a share under a $600-million takeover bid, which includes $400 million in cash.