Eastern Taken Off Block; New Bidder Hinted : Lawyers Agree to Give Suitors Confidential Data

In an unexpected development, Texas Air Corp. declared Monday that it is no longer interested in selling strikebound Eastern Airlines.

The announcement came amid rumors of a new bidder for Eastern and hours after a court hearing during which Eastern’s lawyers agreed to provide confidential information about the company’s financial health to prospective purchasers.

At the hearing, federal bankruptcy judge Burton R. Lifland put off for a week a motion by a disgruntled Eastern customer calling for Eastern to be put on the auction block. But he urged all the parties to quickly find a way to get the carrier’s planes back in the air.

“This airline is hemorrhaging,” said Judge Lifland. “Most bankruptcy cases go through an early triage stage. In this case the patient has been in the emergency room too long,” he said, continuing his medical analogy. “Our purpose is to get the debtor stabilized enough to get the debtor from the emergency room to intensive care.”

As if to underscore Eastern’s difficulties, U.S. Customs agents Monday seized one of the relatively few Eastern Airlines jets still flying after inspectors found 75 pounds of cocaine in a mail bag in the cargo hold in Miami. It was the 14th such seizure of an Eastern jet.

Customs imposed a $1.2-million fine on Eastern and demanded a letter of credit from the strike-hobbled airline before releasing the plane. Because of Eastern’s financial problems, Customs has decided to cash in three previous credit letters worth about $3 million, he said.

Eastern spokeswoman Karen Ceremsak said Customs will have to go to bankruptcy court to get its money. “We don’t think that fining airlines and seizing their aircraft is the way to stop drug trafficking,” said Ceremsak.

The court hearing was the first public event in several days in the tortuous process to rescue Eastern, which was struck by its machinists on March 4 and filed for protection from its creditors five days later.

Throughout the day, rumors spread that a new, fourth bidder is emerging for the ailing company, joining former Baseball Commissioner Peter V. Ueberroth, TWA chairman Carl C. Icahn and Chicago hotel magnate Jay A. Pritzker, all of whom have recently expressed interest in buying Eastern.

One well-placed union source said the fourth bidder was someone who “emerged from left field.” The source said the individual, whom he declined to identify, was a wealthy East Coast businessman who had no previous experience in the airline industry.

“It sounds like someone who got a civic urge” to save a sick company, the source said, but added: “When such a person discovers what kind of dollars are really involved, they often lose that urge.”

Delay Urged

Monday’s hearing was prompted by the filing of a motion earlier this month by Moreton Rolleston Jr., a 71-year-old Atlanta attorney who is the father of a striking Eastern pilot married to a striking Eastern flight attendant.

The motion asked Judge Lifland to consider putting Eastern on the auction block because its continued idleness is harming the public, especially the people of Atlanta, one of the carrier’s major hubs.

However, Joel Zweibel, chief attorney for Eastern’s 15-member creditors’ committee, which includes representatives from aircraft manufacturers, food suppliers and unions among others, urged the judge to delay hearing the motion for a week.

Zweibel said the creditors committee in conjunction with Eastern officials and a special court-appointed bankruptcy examiner has been working on finding a buyer for the carrier or another solution.

“We are not selling a used car at a foreclosure sale,” Zweibel said. “We are selling a complicated business.”

Lifland acceded to Zweibel’s request. However, he warned that “as time goes by there are fewer alternatives to explore.” He said it is losing $1 million a day and that its value is dropping rapidly.

Nonetheless, Eastern attorney Harvey Miller said it would be difficult for Eastern to present a new business plan to the creditors’ committee by Thursday, as the judge strenuously urged the company to do.

Texas Air’s announcement that it doesn’t intend to sell the airline was described by some analysts as another bargaining ploy that sends a signal the company will hold out for a good price rather than be stampeded.

However, Frank Lorenzo, Texas Air’s chairman, said in a formal statement that the company’s board “believes a sale is not in Texas Air or Eastern’s best interests, or in the best interests of Eastern’s creditors.”

About an hour after Lorenzo released his statement from Houston, Bruce Simon, the chief lawyer for Eastern’s pilots, blasted the executive and noted that the airline’s position appeared to put it at odds with the bankruptcy court.

Acker Makes Appearance

“It would appear for the moment at least that Lorenzo is in a tug of war with the bankruptcy court over whether or not the company is for sale,” said Simon. “The judge has said clearly and unmistakably . . . that Eastern is to be returned to its full status and the likeliest way to achieve that is through sale as an ongoing entity to a third party.”

As has occurred continuously in the Eastern saga, the day was filled with intrigue and surprises. When C. Edward Acker, who was deposed as chairman of Pan American Corp. in 1988 after four unions demanded his ouster in return for concessions, walked into the courtroom early Monday morning, some reporters asked if he was in any way involved.

“At the moment, no,” he said mysteriously, and left before the hearing began. He told reporters he was headed back to his home in Bermuda, even though he flew here from the resort island only hours earlier.

NWA Inc. is mulling its options. Page 21