AOL Time Warner board approves name change

AOL Time Warner dropped AOL from its name Thursday, all but acknowledging that the merger that was supposed to usher in a media revolution had been a colossal disappointment.

The world’s largest media and entertainment company now will be called Time Warner Inc., as it was before it merged with America Online in 2000 in a deal valued at the time at more than $160 billion.

The name change will be phased in during the next several weeks. The company’s stock symbol, AOL, will revert to TWX.

Above, people pass the 51st Street entrance to the AOL Time Warner building in Manhattan, N.Y.

Aviation

United partner to fly from KCI to Washington

United Airlines announced Thursday that its United Express partner carrier Air Wisconsin would provide daily service this fall between Washington Dulles International Airport and Kansas City International Airport.

The new service, which begins Oct. 4, will consist of three daily, round-trip flights from Kansas City to Dulles using regional jet aircraft seating up to 50 customers.

Mortgages

Home loan rates drop

Rates on benchmark 30-year mortgages, which had been on a fairly steady upward climb since late June, dropped sharply this week for the second week in a row.

The average rate on 30-year mortgages fell to 6.01 percent for the week ending Sept. 19 from last week’s 6.16 percent, Freddie Mac, the mortgage giant, reported Thursday in its weekly nationwide survey. This week’s rate was the lowest since late July.