U.S. airline industry reeling after attacks

U.S. airline industry reeling after attacks

WASHINGTON (AFP): The U.S. airline industry is reeling from last week's attacks on New York and the Pentagon by hijacked aircraft, with some aviation firms and analysts calling for massive U.S. government aid to stave off bankruptcies.

Continental Airlines said Saturday it was laying off a fifth of its workforce, about 12,000 people. Delta Airlines said Sunday its capacity had been reduced by 20 percent as a result of the disaster and may have to cut staff as well.

"Were this to go on for any extended time, without aid from the federal government, then we would absolutely have to consider employee reductions of that size as an option," said Delta chairman Leo Mullin.

Airline executives who are to meet with Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta this week and lobby Congress for a multibillion-dollar bailout stressed Sunday that aviation is "the engine" of the U.S. economy.

"The traveling public has disappeared, and we need to be there when they get back. Otherwise, there will be no commerce in this country," Continental's chief executive Gordon Bethune said on ABC television.

"The patient is dying very quickly," Bethune told the New York Times on Saturday. "We are all going to be bankrupt before the end of the year."

Vice President Dick Cheney said the White House was open to the concept of financial assistance for the airline industry.

"We're very interested in finding ways to make certain that in this particular instance, there is no permanent damage to our civilian aircraft capacity," Cheney told NBC.

U.S. airline chiefs and Bush administration officials plan to meet as early as Tuesday to discuss the aviation sector's financial troubles, according to Transportation Department spokesman Chet Lunner.

The House of Representatives is considering a legislative proposal for a US$15 billion bail-out of the aviation industry, including $2.5 billion in grants and $12.5 billion in loans.

John McCain, the ranking Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, said he would "do everything in my power to ensure that Congress will act to stabilize the financial conditions of the airlines as we begin to rebuild from this tragedy."

Most airports were open for business Sunday, with about two- thirds of normal traffic. Washington's Reagan National Airport, located close to the heart of the U.S. capital, remained closed.

Meanwhile, four of the biggest U.S. airlines -- American Airlines, United Airlines, Northwest and Continental -- had issued statements saying they were each reducing their long-term flight schedules by 20 percent.

"The reduction is in direct response to the current and anticipated adverse impact on air travel due to Tuesday's terrorist attack," United said in its statement.

Domestic and international air travel through U.S. airports was shut down for two days immediately after four aircraft -- two from American Airlines and two from United -- were hijacked on Tuesday and turned into lethal, fuel-laden missiles.

Two of the planes slammed into New York's World Trade Center, causing the building to collapse and killing an estimated 5,000 people. Another smashed into the Pentagon, damaging the nerve center of the country's military. The fourth crashed in western Pennsylvania.

Although flights started resuming Thursday, many planes plying domestic legs were largely empty, with passengers deserting the skies out of fear.