Plan sponsors will now have until July 1 to meet the much-discussed regulations on 401(k) fee disclosure, following Department of Labor announcements Thursday on the final rulings.

The company also wants union approval to drop its traditional pension plans, which cover 130,000 employees and retirees. It would replace them with 401(k)-type plans under which the company contributes to workers' retirement accounts.

The federal pension-insurance agency filed $91 million in liens against American Airlines property in a bid to pressure the company to save its retirement plans instead of dumping the obligations on the agency.

Cerulli Associates announced that total assets in the U.S. retirement market, including public and private defined-contribution, defined-benefit and individual retirement account markets, increased 9.6% in 2010 to $15.8 trillion.