Thursday morning headlines

Supermarket deadline: Forget about today's noon deadline set by the United Food and Commercial Workers for the three major chains to come up with a formal and final contract proposal. The two sides are still miles apart from a deal - even though there has been progress in the contentious area of health care benefits. Now what does the union do? Rick Icaza, president of UFCW Local 770 in Los Angeles, told the LAT that "whether we will have a strike is up in the air." The union could ask its members to authorize a walkout this weekend, though support is not nearly as widespread as it was in 2003. A news conference is planned for this afternoon.

Watch out for stocks: Another down day so far this morning, with Wall Street a bit spooked that several investment banks were having trouble finding buyers for subprime mortgage securities that were pulled out of two Bear Stearns hedge funds. The concern is less about Bear Stearns and more about this becoming a systemic problem that could lead to other funds being liquidated. Bloomberg

Air show squabble: Airbus is having a tough week duking it out with Boeing in Paris. Besides the underwhelming response to its A350 passenger jet (as opposed to Boeing's popular 787 Dreamliner), Airbus, along with L.A.-based Northrop, faces a losing battle in seeking a $40 billion contract to build tankers for the U.S. Air Force. Both teams have two weeks to make its case - the Air Force decides this fall - and Boeing is on the attack, claiming that the rival Airbus plane is too big, uses too much fuel and isn't designed for smaller airfields where the U.S. military may need to use it. From the WSJ:

Northrop and Airbus dispute those points and argue that the A330 is larger and newer than Boeing's 767-based tanker and point to long development delays in Boeing tankers sold to foreign customers. Boeing, citing technical issues, projects a year delay in delivering the first tanker to Japan and a nearly three year delay for an Italian order. To make its own case, Airbus has performed low-altitude flybys of one of its tankers near the show, with part of the proposed refueling system deployed.

Air fare sale: The planes may be packed this busy summer vacation season, but that's not stopping the airlines from trying to squeeze in just a few more passengers with cheaper fares. Low-cost carrier AirTran this week launched a summer sale for 14-day advance purchase flights. Many major airlines have matched AirTran's sale fares. Unfortunately, coast-to-coast travel remains expensive through next month because many of the lowest-cost seats have already sold. Bicoastal fares are now selling in the $400 range, compared with the high $200s during the fall and winter months. WSJ

Supersonic business jet: For the billionaire who has everything: An $80 million supersonic business plane - dubbed Aerion -that Texas tycoon Robert Bass has been peddling this week at the Paris air show. “With this plane you can have breakfast in New York, fly to London, stay for four hours and fly back to New York for dinner,” Bass told the NYT. And compared with a $300 million A380 superjumbo jet that was ordered this week by a private buyer, it's practically a bargain.

As private jets inch ever closer in size to smaller passenger planes, supersonic jets may be the next great symbol of exclusivity. For one thing, there has not been a supersonic commercial plane since the retirement of the Concorde in 2003. Supersonic business jets are already the subject of an almost theological debate among experts.

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“They will only exist in cartoon land,” said Doug McVitie, managing director of Arran Aerospace, a market research firm in Dinan, France. “Supersonic jets are too fast for the air traffic control system, in the same way as the A380 is just too big for the system.”

Brad Greenspan lives: His totally hopeless effort to become the Dow Jones White Knight by offering to buy 25 percent of the company for $60 a share - same as Rupert Murdoch - is getting some coverage this morning. Receiving less attention is Greenspan’s backstory. He was kicked out as head of MySpace’s parent company – then called eUniverse – and later, while still a major shareholder, he opposed selling the social networking site to Murdoch. Greenspan sued, claiming that the $580 million deal undervalued MySpace, but the case never went anywhere. As head of eUniverse, the L.A.-based Greenspan had his own mishigas before being fired. From BW:

Among the disputes: restated earnings during his watch that prompted an informal Securities & Exchange Commission accounting investigation (now closed) and a temporary delisting of its stock by NASDAQ. Separately, both the company and Greenspan settled charges with New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer in September that they inserted spyware on unknowing consumers' Web pages. Neither admitted guilt. Greenspan, who concedes he took his eye off operations while eUniverse was expanding, says in a lawsuit that he was forced out by then-eUniverse executives who allied with venture capitalists to protect their own jobs. Intermix called the suit "meritless" in an SEC filing but declined comment to BusinessWeek. In addition, Greenspan twice tried to retake his company in proxy battles, including a futile gambit in September to trump a $580 million bid by News Corp. for Intermix.

Bev Hills smoking ban: As expected, the city council voted to prohibit smoking in nearly all outdoor dining areas, beginning Oct. 1 (restaurateurs got a reprieve through the summer tourist season). The council also agreed to track the potential economic impact of the ban and could modify or repeal the ordinance before it becomes permanent six months after implementation. Calabasas, Santa Monica and Burbank previously adopted restrictions on smoking in public places. From the LAT:

The worriers include retailers who fear that smokers won't only skip the city's restaurants, but they'll also wind up doing their shopping elsewhere in Southern California. Glenda Lugay, owner of the Tres Jolie jewelry boutique on South Beverly Drive, said most sales at her store come from European tourists — especially women, many of whose husbands have a smoke while waiting at a nearby cafe. The smoking ban is "ridiculous" and will "kill Beverly Hill's reputation as a tourist haven," she said.