Airlines brace for industry's bad news By Dan Reed, USA TODAY Commanding a dizzying week of news from the nation's airlines, American Airlines could seek bankruptcy-court protection as soon as Tuesday while Delta Air Lines will launch a counterattack on low-fare airlines. There will also be evidence of revenue's stubborn refusal to rebound from a 20% fall the past two years. Led by Continental on Tuesday, airlines will begin announcing first-quarter losses likely to top $3.2 billion, the worst quarter on record. Some forecasts suggest no industry profit until 2005. "The current revenue environment is so bad that you simply can't cut expenses enough to return to profitability using cost cuts alone," says Phil Baggaley of Standard & Poor's. "There's going to have to be some improvement in the revenue picture." Predictions are that 500 newer-model commercial jets in the next 18 months could join the 800 parked in the western deserts since Sept. 11, 2001. Each jet represents more than 100 jobs lost. Airlines to watch: American. Pilots complete voting today on their parts of a concession package worth $1.6 billion a year in savings to the world's largest airline. Flight attendants and ground workers finish voting Tuesday. If any of the unions fails to ratify the tentative deals, American's parent, AMR, is expected to file for Chapter 11 protection from creditors. American added modest improvements to its proposals last week to coax workers' approval, but ratification remains in doubt. Delta. Its low-fare brand Song will make its maiden flight Tuesday between New York and West Palm Beach, Fla. More routes will be added in coming months. Song's fares top out at $299 one way. It is the latest effort by a full-service airline to compete against discounters JetBlue and Southwest, which are profitable and popular with passengers. Most industry experts and rivals are skeptical about Song's chances for profitability because it will fly larger, harder-to-fill planes than Delta's current low-fare operation, Delta Express, and its pilots are paid Delta's industry-leading rates. United. Pilots overwhelmingly ratified concessions saving United $1 billion a year for six years. That is about 40% of what United is seeking from all labor groups in its bankruptcy reorganization. Other big unions have concession votes pending. Pilots union Chairman Paul Whiteford said Sunday that critics "can't complain that labor is the problem" at United. "Now, management has the responsibility to use the tools it's been given," he said. Contributing: Marilyn Adams *************************************************** 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.carstt.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************