By Laura MacInnis NEW YORK, March 20 (Reuters) - America West Holdings Corp. (AWA), which operates the eighth-largest U.S. airline, on Wednesday scaled back plans to increase flights and said it may take charges of up to $349 million for accounting changes, restructuring costs and a reduction in asset values. The announcements helped to trigger a nine percent drop in the shares of the company, the parent of America West Airlines, amid increasing concerns U.S. carriers will be slow to return to profitability in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. America West, which suffered a fourth-quarter net loss of $60.9 million, said it planned to inch back capacity growth to zero-to-two percent for 2002, from a previously planned three percent rise. Company spokeswoman Janice Monahan said it had reined in expansion plans to match demand. The company said it would take a charge of between $100 million and $272 million in the current quarter as it adopts new accounting rules for goodwill and intangible assets. It also announced a charge of up to $60 million for the loss of value in assets, mainly for its fleet of aircraft since Sept. 11 and said it expects a charge of $15 million for its previously announced restructuring, including staff severance costs. Those will also be taken in the first quarter. Some investors were locking in gains following a recent rise in America West's shares, said Jim Higgins, an analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston. He said America West's share price tumble also reflected deflated market hopes of a rumored takeover bid from Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL). America West did not give any validation to the rumors at an analysts' meeting on Wednesday, Higgins said. Delta and America West both declined to comment on the issue. ABN Amro's Raymond Neidl said takeover speculation had fuelled America West's recent share price movements, but described the market talk as "a pipeline dream." Still, some analysts applauded America West's moves to restrain capacity growth. "Capacity is the key driver of this business," said Buckingham Research Group analyst Helane Becker. "If you keep capacity in control, you can get better prices, and that's the most important thing." Most U.S. airline shares fell in Wednesday trading amid concerns that major carriers were adding flights too quickly in a weak market, leading to a price war. America West shares closed on Wednesday down 49 cents at $5.14 in New York Stock Exchange trading. Early last week they rose above $6.00. ©2002 Reuters Limited.