Business briefs for April 22

Southwest: AirTran deal to close in May

By the thinnest of margins, Southwest Airlines Co. says it made money in the first quarter despite higher fuel prices.

Southwest also says it expects to close its $1.4 billion purchase of AirTran Airways on May 2, increasing Southwest's size by one-fourth.

Government antitrust regulators have been reviewing the deal, which will combine Southwest, the oldest and biggest low-cost airline, with one of its largest low-fare imitators.

Southwest spokeswoman Beth Harbin said Thursday that the company has been talking to regulators and expects all approvals to be granted by the May date. A Justice Department spokeswoman said the matter is pending and declined further comment.

Southwest said it earned $5 million, or a penny per share. Not counting one-time costs, Southwest met Wall Street's expectations.

JPMorgan settles military mortgage suits

JPMorgan Chase, one of the lenders criticized over improper foreclosures on military families' homes, has agreed to pay $56 million to settle claims it overcharged service members on their mortgages.

JPMorgan will pay $27 million in cash to about 6,000 active-duty military personnel who were overcharged on their mortgages, cut interest rates on soldiers' home loans and return homes that were wrongfully foreclosed on, according to settlement terms filed in federal court in Beaufort, S.C.

JPMorgan officials said three months ago that one of the bank's units had made errors in the handling of mortgages covered by the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. That law was enacted in 1942 to shield deployed military personnel from financial stress.

Verizon attracts subscribers via iPhone

Helped by the iPhone, Verizon Wireless is pulling in more high-paying subscribers than it has in a year, and 15 times more than rival AT&T.

Verizon Communications Inc. said on Thursday that it added 906,000 wireless subscribers on contract-based plans in the January-to-March period, more than double the number of a year ago.

The increase corresponds neatly with the half-million iPhones that Verizon sold to new subscribers. Verizon started selling the iPhone on Feb. 3, ending AT&T's exclusive grip on the device in the U.S.

Digital N.Y. Times

New York Times Co., publisher of the namesake newspaper, said Thursday that more than 100,000 people have signed up for new digital subscriptions, a sign that online revenue may help offset a decline in print advertising and circulation.

Times Co. introduced its so-called paywall March 28 as readers continue to shift away from print newspapers and toward the Web. The system requires customers to pay for online content, often after they have read more than 20 articles.

"That's a pretty good number," said Douglas Arthur, an analyst at Evercore Partners in New York. "My break-even number for subscriptions for 12 months is 200,000, and the Times is already at 100,000 after three weeks."

Toyota recalls RAV4

Toyota recalled more than 300,000 RAV4 and Highlander vehicles Thursday so that it can fix an issue related to their airbags.

The recall includes about 214,000 RAV4s from 2007 and 2008 and about 94,000 Highlander and Highlander HV vehicles from 2008. All of the vehicles involved were sold in the U.S. The recall does not include any other Lexus or Toyota vehicles.

Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. said Thursday that the airbag sensor assembly in the RAV 4 and Highland vehicles has two sensors that are designed to detect vehicle roll angle.

If both sensors fail at about the same time after an initial airbag system check, the seat belt pretensioner and the curtain shield airbag may be inadvertently activated.

Owners of the affected vehicles will receive a recall notification letter in the mail in May.

Jobless claims fall,

Jobless claims fell in the latest week but remained above the key 400,000 threshold for the second straight week, suggesting that improvement in the labor market has stalled.

The number of people filing for state unemployment benefits for the first time fell 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 403,000 last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday. This is the first time that claims have been above 400,000 for two weeks since late January, and the decline only partially reverses the big jump in claims in the prior week.

Kia's Georgia plant

Kia Motors plans to start manufacturing the Optima sedan this year at its plant in Georgia, which is expected to add about 700 jobs.

The company announced Thursday that production of the 2012 Optima is set to begin in the third quarter. The plant in West Point, near the Alabama state line, employs about 2,300 people.

Kia began mass production of its Sorento crossover utility vehicle at the plant in November 2009.

McDonald's warns

McDonald's Corp. said Thursday that it expects more price increases for beef and other key ingredients, sending its shares down even as it reported that its first-quarter profit and revenue rose.

The company said it's likely to raise menu prices this year, but that could scare off the customers who dine there mainly because of the low cost. McDonald's already raised prices 1 percent in early March.

The company said it expects an increase of 4 percent to 4.5 percent in food prices in U.S. and Europe for the year. In January, McDonald's predicted an increase of 2 percent to 2.5 percent for U.S. food prices.

Oil prices rise

Oil rose on Thursday, as the dollar weakened and gas pump prices inched higher.

Benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude added 84 cents to settle at $112.29 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude rose 14 cents to settle at $123.99 per barrel.

From wire reports