United Airlines, which is operating in bankruptcy protection, received court permission on Tuesday to terminate its four employee pension plans, setting off the largest pension default in the three decades that the government has guaranteed pensions.The ruling by Judge Eugene R. Wedoff of Federal Bankruptcy Court came after a lengthy hearing in a crowded Chicago courtroom, near where United Airlines is based. Despite pleas by union lawyers, Judge Wedoff sided with United Airlines, which had insisted that it could not emerge from bankruptcy protection with its pension plans in place.The ruling releases United Airlines, a unit of the UAL Corporation, from $3.2 billion in pension obligations over the next five years. The federal agency that guarantees pensions, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, will assume responsibility for the plans, which cover about 134,000 people.The airline, which has been in bankruptcy protection since December 2002, has been pushing to end its pensions since losing its bid for a federal loan package last year. But unions representing United’s employees fought the action, threatening to strike if the pensions were set aside. Analysts have predicted that if United Airlines won its case, there could be a domino effect as other airlines are forced to seek bankruptcy protection to bring their pension costs down to United’s levels. That move would probably swamp the pension agency, which was created in 1974.Legislation has been introduced in the Congress that would allow major airlines to stretch out $20 billion in unpaid pension liabilities over 25 years, but the measure’s future is uncertain. — NYT
