05/05/2003 - Updated 09:34 PM ET Airline flight schedules see slight uptick By Chris Woodyard, USA TODAY Airlines are slowly beginning to restore flights to their schedules after weeks of cutbacks due to war, a viral outbreak and the economic downturn. U.S. carriers made some of the deepest cuts during the war on international routes, according to flight-schedule data provided by OAG. Now, they hope travelers are willing to take to the skies again. "I expect the airlines are going to start to restore seats, but I don't expect the restoration will be at 2002 levels unless there's a miracle that takes place," says Henry Harteveldt, a travel analyst for Forrester Research.U.S. carriers have made far deeper cuts on overseas routes than international airlines.Last week, U.S. airlines were scheduled to fly 25% fewer seats for flights between the USA and Western Europe than in the same week last year, OAG's information shows. Seats on non-U.S. airlines' flights were down 3% from a year ago. The percentage of flights dropped was almost the same ? 23% for U.S. airlines and 3% for non-U.S. airlines.The trend held on trans-Pacific flying, too.U.S. carriers' scheduled seats for flights to Asia and other Pacific destinations were down 20% from a year ago, but foreign carriers' seats were down 11%.The schedule changes were even more pronounced from certain U.S. gateway airports.For instance, U.S. airlines' seats for Los Angeles-Asia flights last week were down 29% from a year ago, but non-U.S. airlines' seats were down 4%.With the continuing crisis about severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, some foreign carriers face further cutbacks. Last week, Singapore Airlines announced new flight cuts that will reduce its capacity by 29% compared with before the crisis took hold.However, some U.S. carriers say they will add flights as summer approaches. What's planned:American is going to restore some of the international flights it previously cut, including some of those on Boston routes to London Heathrow and Paris, and the New York JFK to Paris and Tokyo Narita runs. It's also restoring some domestic service, including flights between high-tech centers San Jose and both Austin and Boston.United is "still assessing the summer environment and what needs to be done," spokesman Jason Schechter says. United cut 14% of its flying in April and 20% in May compared with a year ago.Delta has seen a small upturn in international demand. It's going to restore an unspecified number of flights. "We're still cautious," spokeswoman Catherine Stengel says.Continental will have about 2% less capacity this summer than a year ago. The airline added Houston to Grand Cayman flights Friday. New domestic flights include Cleveland to Seattle and San Diego. *************************************************** 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.cso.gov.tt TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************