Briefcase

Boeing says some new planes need repairs

CHICAGO – Boeing said Monday that repairs are needed in the tail sections of some of its new 787s, although it said there’s no immediate safety concern.

Boeing has delivered five of the planes since September to Japan’s All Nippon Airways. It has built dozens more, including many that need to be reworked to fix various manufacturing issues.

A Boeing Co. spokeswoman said Monday that inspections were under way to determine which planes need the latest repairs, including the planes that have gone to ANA.

Boeing stock fell 88 cents to close at $75.46.

Associated Press

McDonald’s pulls ad that mentioned pit bulls

LOS ANGELES – McDonald’s apologized and pulled an ad that came back to bite it.

The ad that said eating a Chicken McBite was less risky than petting a pit bull enraged pit bull owners and their defenders.

McDonald’s spokeswoman Ashlee Yingling said Monday the Kansas City-area radio ad for Chicken McBites ran just a few days before it was pulled Friday.

The company issued an apology by email and social media sites, and people who called a toll-free number got a recorded apology.

Associated Press

Fast-food chain owner reports rising profit

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Yum Brands Inc., owner of the Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC fast-food chains, said Monday that its fourth-quarter profit rose 30 percent with strong overseas growth and a sales turnaround at Pizza Hut in the U.S.

The restaurant operator’s revenue rose 15 percent to $4.1 billion. The results were slightly higher than analysts expected, and Yum’s shares rose after hours.

Yum’s global restaurant growth sped up in 2011 with the addition of 656 restaurants in China and 905 in the rest of its international markets. The company plans to keep up the pace in 2012, with 1,500 new restaurants overseas, including about 600 in China.

Associated Press

Brazil privatizes three airports ahead of Cup

SAO PAULO – The Brazilian government privatized operations at three of the nation’s main airports on Monday, awarding $14 billion in contracts to three consortiums that will expand and run terminals amid booming demand and ahead of the 2014 World Cup.

Improving airports plagued with bottlenecks, long lines and poor infrastructure was a key promise the government made in its winning bid to host soccer’s premier event in 2014. Hundreds of thousands of fans will fly between the 12 host cities for matches.

Brazil’s airports have buckled under demand that tripled in the past decade. In 2002, airlines flew 34.3 million passengers on flights originating in Brazil. That rose to 107.8 million last year, Brazil’s civil aviation agency reported.

Associated Press