Bills to Pay

In his dogfight for TWA, Investor Carl Icahn has learned that if it isn't one thing, it's another. Last week he finally won control of the fifth-largest U.S. air carrier by buying the last chunks of stock necessary for a 50.3% share of the company. Yet Icahn's victory means that the raider will now be held hostage by a number of unusual problems arising from the June hijacking of TWA Flight 847.

To date, the hijacking has cost TWA about $20 million. But it will not end there. The airline's insurance company, Associated Aviation Underwriters, is offering the 143 passengers flat payments ranging from $10,000 to $35,000. But international agreements entitle people on hijacked flights normally to collect awards of up to $75,000. So far, about half the passengers have accepted the offers.

At least six former hostages, though, are suing TWA. One couple claims TWA was negligent in not providing proper security at Athens airport, where the hijacking began. Violette Darras, who was not on the plane, claims she was a victim of grief, torment, terror and "loss of companionship" because her husband William was taken hostage.

TWA will have no such problem with Uli Derickson's oil credit-card purchase. At a stop in Algiers, the plane needed fuel, but ground crews would not start pumping unless they were paid. Derickson, a flight attendant aboard the plane, reached for her purse, pulled out her Shell plastic, and bought 6,000 gal. of aviation kerosene. Shell does not expect payment.

The most publicized and photographed hostage of them all, the Boeing 727 plane, last week was finally flown back from Beirut to TWA's base in Kansas City. There the grimy craft underwent a nostalgic examination by John Testrake, the pilot during the hijacking. Before the aircraft was allowed to take off, though, Beirut airport officials demanded that TWA pay one final bill: landing fees for the three times the plane touched down in Beirut, and other charges for 67 days of parking.