Iacocca is Considering an Advisory Role at TWA

Retiring Chrysler Chairman Lee A. Iacocca confirmed on Thursday that he is “looking at” the possibility of helping to revive ailing Trans World Airlines after he leaves the auto maker on Dec. 31.

But Iacocca said TWA, which is in bankruptcy proceedings, is “one of many” companies and organizations that have approached him for help. He said whatever he does will be on a part-time advisory basis.

Iacocca, 68, said he was telephoned last August by Brian Freeman, investment banker and consultant to TWA’s unions, about helping the airline. There have been a number of meetings since, he told The Times.

Iacocca became a legendary corporate figure in the 1980s after leading the rescue of Chrysler from the brink of bankruptcy. As he nears retirement, he appears to have brought Chrysler through a second financial crisis, leaving the company on an upswing.

In an interview, the Chrysler boss sought to downplay whatever role might materialize for him at TWA. But the idea of another industrial rescue effort appeared to appeal to him.

“I’m not interested in full-time running another corporation,” Iacocca said. “But if I can help, sure. That’s always a challenge. They’re nice people. We might have 26,000 people out on the street through no fault of their own, and another venerable name down the tubes. That’s been the legacy of the ‘80s. I feel bad about that.”

Freeman, who met Iacocca when he was director of the federal panel that oversaw the government’s guarantee of $1.2 billion in loans to Chrysler in the early 1980s, has indicated that he has discussed the TWA chairman’s role for Iacocca.

Judging from Iacocca’s comments, it would be limited to the sort of oversight role described for new General Motors Chairman John Smale, the GM director and ex-Proctor & Gamble boss who led a boardroom shake-up of GM’s top management earlier this year.

Because TWA employees are to own 45% of the company when it emerges from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, an alliance with the airline’s union leaders is critical.

TWA owner Carl Icahn is the airline’s chairman. He would give up control if a federal bankruptcy judge approves a reorganization plan to be submitted to the court Jan. 12.

Iacocca will remain chairman of Chrysler’s executive committee after Jan. 1. He said he will also spend time on the affairs of a manufacturing think tank named after him at his alma mater, Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, and at the Economic Strategy Institute, a policy group in Washington.