American Airlines to scale back operations on St. Croix CHRISTIANSTED, U.S. Virgin Islands (AP) =97 Citing financial troubles and=20 increased landing fees, American Airlines plans to do away with its ground= =20 staff on the island of St. Croix next month. The airline will give up its=20 counter space and offices on St. Croix and cut 10 full-time jobs, airline=20 spokeswoman Minnette Velez said Thursday. American flights from Miami and=20 flights by related subsidiary American Eagle from San Juan, Puerto Rico,=20 will continue without change, but ground American Eagle employees will take= =20 over ground operations, Velez said. She said American employees will be=20 offered the possibility of relocation. Last month, the Virgin Islands Port= =20 Authority announced it was increasing landing fees in the U.S. territory by= =20 as much as 30% to offset a drop in revenues. The cutbacks are to begin=20 April 15, due to the increased fees and also American's financial troubles,= =20 Velez said. Shares in American fell earlier this week after reports the=20 airline is lining up bankruptcy financing. Both American and American Eagle= =20 are owned by Fort Worth, Texas-based AMR Corp. But the parent company has=20 signed a letter of intent to sell American Eagle's Caribbean division,=20 Executive Airlines, to Puerto Rico hotelier Joaquin Bolivar. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.tha.gov.tt/ TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************