Whether Navistar International Corp. moves its truck-design operations from Fort Wayne to suburban Chicago is unrelated to a $37.3 million federal grant to design fuel-efficient tractor trailers, a spokesman said Monday.

The money will be used at Navistar’s Truck Design and Technology Center in Fort Wayne and at the Navistar Engine and Technical Center in Melrose Park, Ill. Company spokesman Roy Wiley said he doesn’t know how much each facility will get.

Navistar is considering consolidating its headquarters and engineering operations onto a single site in Lisle, Ill. The move would cost Fort Wayne at least 800 jobs. Wiley said whether Navistar makes the move is “completely unrelated” to the federal grant announced Monday.

Delta boosting fees for checked luggage

Attention air travelers: That tug at your wallet is about to happen again, courtesy of the world’s biggest airline. Delta Air Lines Inc. is raising its fees to check your first bag on a domestic flight by $8 and the second bag by $7. That will mean $23 for the first bag and $32 for the second.

It will continue to cost you even more if you don’t pay the fees in advance on the airline’s Web site. Delta is calling that add-on a surcharge – $2 for the first bag and $3 for the second. You will have to pay the surcharges if you check your bags at an airport ticket counter, kiosk or curbside.

The new fees are for travel beginning today on tickets bought on or after Jan. 5. Elite frequent fliers, first-class fliers and certain other customers, including soldiers on deployment, are exempt from the fees.

Rivals Pfizer, Merck cutting 20,000 jobs

Fresh off major acquisitions of rivals, drugmakers Pfizer Inc. and Merck & Co. are each planning to eliminate thousands of jobs.

According to reports, Pfizer will eliminate nearly 1,200 jobs, including 680 in Pennsylvania, 400 in New Jersey, and 116 in Rockland County, N.Y. Meanwhile, Merck will cut 500 jobs in New Jersey.

Pfizer, which is based in New York, bought vaccine-maker Wyeth for $68 billion in October, while Merck paid $41.1 billion for Schering-Plough Corp. in November. Both are planning to eliminate thousands more jobs. Combined, Pfizer and Wyeth plan to cut about 20,000 jobs, or 15 percent of their combined staff.

It’s official: Landram is new Chamber CEO

Mike Landram can officially order new business cards. The interim president and CEO of the Greater Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce has shed the “interim” from his title, the Chamber announced Monday.

Landram, who spent 13 years as human resources and training director for Pizza Hut of Fort Wayne, joined the Chamber staff in 2004 and was formerly vice president of workforce and business development.

Fiat CEO: Alfa Romeo brand not up for sale

Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne said Monday he has no intention of selling the Alfa Romeo brand, but he made clear the maker of sporty cars needs to prove its mettle in 2010.

Analysts have suggested Marchionne might be preparing to sell Alfa, citing statements by the Fiat CEO that a product freeze for the sporty premium brand was under review. Fiat strongly denied Alfa was on the block, and it is againstletting a strong, well-known nameplate go.