INDEPENDENT COMPANY BIDS $1 BILLION FOR TWA

INDEPENDENT COMPANY BIDS $1 BILLION FOR TWA    An independent company formed by aviation experts and investors said Wednesday it would bid nearly $1 billion to buy Trans World Airlines.
   The price is twice as much as the $500-million deal offered in January by AMR Corp., the parent company of American Airlines, to acquire the assets of the troubled airline.
   The new bidder, Jet Acquisitions Group Inc., of Scottsdale, Ariz., said that it wants to keep TWA as an independent and financially viable airline.
   The group said that it will propose “the elimination of current debt, retention of virtually all current employees, modernization of current facilities and a substantial future expansion of the airline.”
      “Our bid is more than twice the size of the nearest offer for TWA that was previously made by American Airlines,” said group spokesman Stanford E. Lerch, a principal in the law firm Lerch & DePrima.
   Lerch was previously involved with bankruptcies of Continental Airlines and America West Airlines.
   A federal judge has extended the deadline for bids for TWA until Feb. 28. TWA has continued to operate while bankruptcy proceedings occur.
   “With Congressional hearings now underway to scrutinize the consolidation of the airline industry and its effects on competition and consumer prices we believe our effort to thwart the trend toward consolidation is particularly timely,” Lerch said.