U.S. airline industry reeling after attacks<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON (AFP): The U.S. airline industry is reeling from
\nlast week's attacks on New York and the Pentagon by hijacked
\naircraft, with some aviation firms and analysts calling for
\nmassive U.S. government aid to stave off bankruptcies.<\/p>\n
Continental Airlines said Saturday it was laying off a fifth
\nof its workforce, about 12,000 people. Delta Airlines said Sunday
\nits capacity had been reduced by 20 percent as a result of the
\ndisaster and may have to cut staff as well.<\/p>\n
\"Were this to go on for any extended time, without aid from
\nthe federal government, then we would absolutely have to consider
\nemployee reductions of that size as an option,\" said Delta
\nchairman Leo Mullin.<\/p>\n
Airline executives who are to meet with Transportation
\nSecretary Norman Mineta this week and lobby Congress for a
\nmultibillion-dollar bailout stressed Sunday that aviation is \"the
\nengine\" of the U.S. economy.<\/p>\n
\"The traveling public has disappeared, and we need to be there
\nwhen they get back. Otherwise, there will be no commerce in this
\ncountry,\" Continental's chief executive Gordon Bethune said on
\nABC television.<\/p>\n
\"The patient is dying very quickly,\" Bethune told the New York
\nTimes on Saturday. \"We are all going to be bankrupt before the
\nend of the year.\"<\/p>\n
Vice President Dick Cheney said the White House was open to
\nthe concept of financial assistance for the airline industry.<\/p>\n
\"We're very interested in finding ways to make certain that in
\nthis particular instance, there is no permanent damage to our
\ncivilian aircraft capacity,\" Cheney told NBC.<\/p>\n
U.S. airline chiefs and Bush administration officials plan to
\nmeet as early as Tuesday to discuss the aviation sector's
\nfinancial troubles, according to Transportation Department
\nspokesman Chet Lunner.<\/p>\n
The House of Representatives is considering a legislative
\nproposal for a US$15 billion bail-out of the aviation industry,
\nincluding $2.5 billion in grants and $12.5 billion in loans.<\/p>\n
John McCain, the ranking Republican on the Senate Commerce
\nCommittee, said he would \"do everything in my power to ensure
\nthat Congress will act to stabilize the financial conditions of
\nthe airlines as we begin to rebuild from this tragedy.\"<\/p>\n
Most airports were open for business Sunday, with about two-
\nthirds of normal traffic. Washington's Reagan National Airport,
\nlocated close to the heart of the U.S. capital, remained closed.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, four of the biggest U.S. airlines -- American
\nAirlines, United Airlines, Northwest and Continental -- had
\nissued statements saying they were each reducing their long-term
\nflight schedules by 20 percent.<\/p>\n
\"The reduction is in direct response to the current and
\nanticipated adverse impact on air travel due to Tuesday's
\nterrorist attack,\" United said in its statement.<\/p>\n
Domestic and international air travel through U.S. airports
\nwas shut down for two days immediately after four aircraft -- two
\nfrom American Airlines and two from United -- were hijacked on
\nTuesday and turned into lethal, fuel-laden missiles.<\/p>\n
Two of the planes slammed into New York's World Trade Center,
\ncausing the building to collapse and killing an estimated 5,000
\npeople. Another smashed into the Pentagon, damaging the nerve
\ncenter of the country's military. The fourth crashed in western
\nPennsylvania.<\/p>\n
Although flights started resuming Thursday, many planes plying
\ndomestic legs were largely empty, with passengers deserting the
\nskies out of fear.<\/p>",
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