Business news briefs

Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2003 | 11:18 a.m.

Pilots ratify contract

PHOENIX -- America West Airlines pilots have ratified a new three-year contract that extends long-term disability coverage and pays a retirement bonus, after rejecting proposals earlier this month and in March.

The vote for approval was 771-679, said Miles Wiley, a spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association. It represents about 1,700 pilots at Phoenix-based America West, which has a hub in Las Vegas.

The contract raises pay 14 percent over its term.

The two sides on Dec. 16 reached the latest agreement, which the union has said ends long-term disability at age 65 instead of 60 and includes a bonus paid into retirement accounts for pilots age 55 and older. Pilots had voted down the two earlier proposed contracts because of job-security and retirement concerns.

Retailer closing stores

RENTON, Wash. -- Wizards of the Coast Inc., the manufacturer of trading card games and role-playing games, will close its chain of 64 retail stores.

The company has two Las Vegas-area stores under its The Game Keeper brand. The stores are at the Galleria at Sunset in Henderson and the Meadows mall in Las Vegas.

Wizards, a subsidiary of Hasbro Inc., announced Sunday that the closure of its Wizards of the Coast and The Game Keeper stores will allow it to focus on its core business of game design.

Wizards' games include "Magic: The Gathering" and "Dungeons & Dragons."

Shares rise on Pentagon deal

CHICAGO -- Shares of Boeing Co., the world's biggest airplane maker, touched a 52-week high after the company said today it received orders worth as much as $9.6 billion to build and develop fighter jets for the U.S. Navy.

The company's shares rose 76 cents to $42.76 at 12:24 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

Boeing Chief Executive Harry Stonecipher has been trying to mend ties with U.S. defense officials after two executives left amid a federal review of the way the company bids for contracts. The Pentagon has put on hold its order for Boeing aerial tankers while it looks into whether the company's hiring of a former Air Force official may have influenced that transaction.