AMR shares jump after flight attendants OK cuts CHICAGO (Reuters) =97 Shares of American Airlines parent AMR jumped as much= =20 as 27% in very active trade Thursday, a day after flight attendants=20 narrowly voted to accept long-term cost cuts, averting an immediate massive= =20 bankruptcy. Shares of AMR surged $1.15 to $5.38, a three-month high and=20 most active on the big board in early trading. But analysts and even the=20 airline's chief executive said American, the world's largest air carrier,=20 is not yet out of the woods. "We believe that the recently approved labor=20 cost cutting, combined with other cost cutting that the company is=20 implementing totaling $4 billion ... should be enough to enable AMR to=20 survive even in a weak revenue environment," Blaylock & Partners airline=20 analyst Ray Neidl said in a note. Neidl raised AMR shares to "buy" from=20 "hold" late Wednesday after the vote and pegged the probability of=20 bankruptcy at no more than a 20% chance for the rest of 2003, absent a=20 major catastrophic event. Airlines worldwide have been beset by what=20 analysts have called a perfect storm that has crushed travel demand in the= =20 last few years from the Sept. 11, 2001, hijack attacks, to the war in Iraq= =20 and SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. Several large carriers have= =20 sought bankruptcy protection, including United Airlines and parent UAL=20 Corp. late in 2002 and US Airways Holdings. US Airways emerged from=20 protection in late March. Flight attendants were the last of American's=20 labor groups to ratify cost-cutting plans that total about $1.8 billion per= =20 year from all groups. American has already cut $2 billion per year in=20 structural costs. The roughly $4 billion per year in cuts are expected to cut total operating= =20 costs by about 21%, reducing AMR's unit costs to levels competitive with=20 other large U.S. airlines. AMR Chief Executive Don Carty late on Wednesday= =20 said that even with the cuts, the airline is not out of the woods given a=20 hostile financial and business environment. Credit Suisse First Boston=20 airline analyst Jim Higgins retained a "neutral" rating on AMR, noting that= =20 the air carrier remains exposed to weak business travel, trans-Atlantic and= =20 Latin American markets as well as low-fare airlines. "The longer-term=20 upside if bankruptcy is avoided longer-term greatly exceeds the potential=20 downside, but we do not view the carrier as being out of the woods given=20 its exposure to many of the industry's most troubling revenue spots ...,"=20 Higgins said in a note. *************************************************** 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 *********************************************************