Also . . .

* The United States and Britain will hold informal talks on liberalizing air travel later this month, the Transportation Department disclosed after Secretary Norman Mineta met with chief executives of American Airlines and British Airways. The executives were sounding out Mineta on the prospects of U.S. support for deepening their commercial alliance, a proposal the Clinton administration blocked in 1999.

* Cendant Corp., the franchising giant that’s already in talks to buy Galileo International Inc. for about $3 billion, has opened talks with Worldspan as it moves to build online links between travel agents and its hotel and rental car businesses, the Wall Street Journal reported. Analysts said, however, that Cendant could find reluctant sellers among Worldspan’s owners--Delta Air Lines Inc., Northwest Airlines Corp. and AMR Corp.’s TWA unit. Worldspan could be worth $1 billion to $1.5 billion, analysts estimated.