Auditors question viability of Midwest Airlines MILWAUKEE (AP) =97 Midwest Airlines' auditors are questioning the company's= =20 ability to remain in business, but the firm's executives disagree with that= =20 assessment. Midwest included a report by its auditors in a Securities and=20 Exchange Commission filing Tuesday. "The audit report contains a going=20 concern qualification that indicates that the company's recurring losses=20 from operations raise substantial doubt about the company's ability to=20 continue as a going concern," Midwest noted in the filing. An auditor's going concern statement raises a question about a company's=20 long-term viability, said Don Giacomino, a Marquette University accounting= =20 professor. Midwest officials disagreed with the statement from its=20 auditors, Deloitte & Touche. "We don't believe there is a going concern=20 issue," said Carol Skornicka, Midwest senior vice president and general=20 counsel. Midwest Express Holdings Inc., which includes Midwest Airlines and= =20 Midwest Connect, reported a loss of $10.5 million in 2002, or 72 cents a= share. Midwest, like much of the airline industry, has struggled financially amid= =20 record-high fuel prices, the threat of war and sluggish passenger business= =20 since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. An auditor's statement=20 questioning a company's ability to continue as a going concern is not=20 routine, Giacomino said. But the statement from Midwest's auditors is not a= =20 surprise given the state of the struggling airline industry, said Martin=20 Zohn, a Los Angeles bankruptcy lawyer who has worked with the airline=20 industry. Midwest's decision to temporarily suspend aircraft lease and debt= =20 payments totaling $9.5 million might have triggered the auditor's=20 statement, Zohn said. "You see these statements quite a bit now, especially= =20 when an airline is in default of its loans and leases," he said. "I don't=20 mean to minimize it, but I would not overvalue it, either." Meanwhile,=20 Midwest announced Tuesday it would make it easier for passengers to change= =20 tickets as war with Iraq looms. Midwest passengers could change their=20 travel plans for one time only without paying a change fee in the event of= =20 military action or if the federal government issues a "Code Red" terrorism= =20 alert. *************************************************** 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.thehummingbirdonline.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************