TRANSPORTATION

Eastern Announces Repayment Plan: More than five years after collapsing into bankruptcy, the airline announced a plan that would pay creditors pennies on the dollar and could help open the way for the carrier to fly again. Attorneys for Eastern Airlines, which came to typify the travails of the U.S. airline industry, boiled down $16 billion in initial claims and expect Eastern to ultimately pay between $1.36 billion and $1.45 billion to end the case. “I am not 100% sure what the unions will do. But face it: There is no alternative to this plan,” said Joel Zweibel, attorney for the creditors committee. A Bankruptcy Court judge will be asked to consider approving a disclosure statement outlining the settlement plan at a hearing Oct. 25 in New York.