Higher airline ticket prices put brakes on overseas trips

Growth in international air travel is likely to cool over the next several months as airlines boost their ticket prices to pay for higher fuel bills, the International Air Transport Association said Tuesday.

Signs of slowing demand are already evident. For February, higher ticket prices appear to be discouraging people from booking vacations overseas, with economy-class seating growth slowing to 3.3 percent year over year from 5 percent in January.

“Economy travel volumes appear to have been trending downwards since October,” the Geneva-based trade group said in the report. “The 34 percent rise in jet kerosene prices over that period and the impact on travel costs may now be causing price-sensitive passengers to cut back on air travel.”

Data thieves now targeting smaller, nonfinancial firms

The number of compromised data records in computer security breaches declined last year as thieves shifted their sights to smaller, nonfinancial businesses, according to a report by Verizon Communications Inc.

The research, conducted with the Secret Service and the Dutch National High Tech Crime unit, analyzed 761 security breaches and found 4 million accessed data records, Wade Baker, director of risk intelligence at Verizon Communications, said in an interview. That compares with 144 million compromised data records stemming from 141 examined data breaches in 2009.

The report showed a higher proportion of breaches affecting hotels, restaurants and retailers, with the highest number at enterprises employing 100 workers or fewer.

Hoover executive will pull ads over two canceled soaps

A Hoover executive who says his wife and mother are big fans of two soap operas canceled by ABC said he is yanking the vacuum-makers’ ads from the network in protest.

Hoover’s vice president of marketing, Brian Kirkendall, announced on the company’s Facebook page that the ads will be lifted Friday, if not sooner. More than 11,000 people said they “liked” the action, many writing messages of support.

ABC said last week it was canceling “All My Children” and “One Life to Live,” leaving “General Hospital” as its only soap. ABC had no comment Tuesday on Hoover’s action.

Law firm drops class action over Taco Bell’s meat filling

Taco Bell declared victory Tuesday after an Alabama-based law firm dropped its class-action lawsuit that raised a beef with the meat filling served in the fast-food chain’s tacos and burritos.

The two sides differed, though, on the result of the legal battle that had put Taco Bell on the defensive, prompting the popular chain to spend millions to defend its taco filling.

The law firm Beasley Allen, based in Montgomery, Ala., said it dropped the lawsuit after Taco Bell made changes to its marketing and product disclosure.

Taco Bell CEO Greg Creed countered that the chain made no changes to its products or advertising and didn’t discuss possible changes with the plaintiff’s lawyers. The chain said the allegations were “absolutely wrong” and the suit was voluntarily withdrawn by the firm.

Boeing to cover plant’s roof with solar panels for power

Boeing Co. announced Tuesday that the roof of its new 787 jet assembly plant will be covered with solar panels and its North Charleston, S.C., operation will be powered entirely with renewable energy.

South Carolina Electric & Gas will install and maintain the thin panels that will cover the space of about eight football fields atop the massive assembly building.

The panels will provide up to 2.6 megawatts of electrical power for the site – enough to power about 250 homes.

It will be the largest solar installation by generating capacity in the Southeast and the sixth-largest in the nation, the company said.

J&J’s revenue rebounds; earnings top expectations

Health care giant Johnson & Johnson’s revenue rebounded but its profit dropped 23 percent in the first quarter because of higher costs for product recalls and litigation.

Adjusted earnings handily topped analysts’ expectations Tuesday on strength overseas, helped by a weaker dollar. J&J also raised its full-year earnings outlook, sending the company’s stock up $1.62, or 2.7 percent, to $62.08 in early-afternoon trading.