Eastern Could Get Bigger: Eastern Airlines President...

Eastern Could Get Bigger: Eastern Airlines President Phil Bakes says the carrier is doing so well at overcoming its strike that the rebuilt Eastern will be bigger than first announced. “The airline’s going to be larger than what we projected last April,” Bakes said in an interview. Bakes noted that instead of the 17,000 employees planned, there will be “18,000-plus, maybe more.” Eastern next year will fly from 165 to 180 planes instead of 157, and instead of $1.8 billion in asset sales, the figure may be as low as $1.5 billion, he said.