He ran TWA from 1985 to 1993, when the airline underwent the first of three bankruptcies. Edward Weisfelner, Mr. Icahn's attorney, said the high hurdle facing other prospective bidders had discouraged other offers. He compared the arrangement to a bankruptcy sale of Braniff Inc. that was approved by the lower courts only to fall apart on appeal, leaving the former airline's creditors with nothing. Mr. Icahn was willing to help finance another party's bid for TWA, the lawyer said, but he has not yet structured a deal and doesn't want to buy it himself. Mr. Icahn has no interest in either owning or operating this airline.
Many airlines use consolidators to fill empty seats with low-price fares.
But no other airline allows a discounter to sell all its classes of seats, all the time, in direct competition with the airline's own sales efforts, TWA said. Despite Friday's court motion, the contract also forbids TWA from trying to cancel it in any bankruptcy proceeding. Mr. Miller denied the suggestion that it just wanted to put its competitors out of business while picking up some of TWA's more lucrative assets. Brian Leitch, Continental's lead attorney, also cited the Braniff case in his closing arguments. He said Continental was willing to buy some TWA assets but did not describe an overall bid for the ailing carrier.