=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/news/archive/2002/05/21/f= inancial1135EDT0093.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, May 21, 2002 (AP) Airline association: Post Sept. 11 trans-Atlantic air traffic down 22.6 per= cent, slowly returning to previous levels (05-21) 08:35 PDT BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- Scheduled air traffic between the United States and Europe is down 22.6 percent for the period since the Sept. 11 terror attacks compared to a year earlier, the 28-member Association of European Airlines said Tuesday. But traffic across the North Atlantic -- key to the financial health of major airlines -- was slowly approaching earlier levels, according to association figures. In the last quarter of 2001, traffic on North Atlantic routes was off by almost 31 percent compared to the same period in 2000, the association said. Since Jan. 1, the decrease narrowed to 14.9 percent, the AEA said. In the week ending May 12, the last for which the association had figure= s, traffic was off by 10.1 percent compared for the same week the year before. Traffic on routes within Europe has fallen by 8.6 percent, the AEA said = in its weekly traffic update. =20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2002 AP