American Airlines sets creditor deals, may still file bankruptcy CHICAGO (Reuters) =97 American Airlines said Thursday it may still have to= =20 file for bankruptcy, even after reaching deals with more than 100=20 suppliers, aircraft lessors and other creditors that will save it more than= =20 $175 million a year. The world's largest airline, a unit of AMR Corp.,=20 narrowly averted bankruptcy three times last month and has been scrambling= =20 to restructure its costs out of court. The airline said it expects the=20 latest agreements to generate cumulative savings of more than $1 billion.=20 The deals, which the carrier disclosed in a U.S. regulatory filing, mark=20 the final piece of the company's goal of reducing overall costs by $4=20 billion a year. American previously had identified about $2 billion in=20 annual cost savings. Last month, its three major unions agreed to=20 concession packages totaling $1.8 billion. "We continue to move through the= =20 most challenging period in our history, and our success is still far from=20 assured, but reaching these cost-reduction agreements with our suppliers,=20 lessors, and creditors is another step forward and further strengthens AMR= =20 as we seek to put the company on a solid financial footing," the company's= =20 new Chief Executive Gerard Arpey said in a statement. AMR shares rose more= =20 than 15 cents initially on the news, but retreated 14 cents lower to $6.90= =20 on the New York Stock Exchange at mid-afternoon. The company's filing with= =20 the Securities and Exchange Commission also showed that AMR granted 37.9=20 million stock options to its unions on April 17 at a strike price of $5.=20 With the stock currently trading near $7 a share, that's a gain of about=20 $76 million. The carrier said it will issue up to 3 million shares of=20 common stock to suppliers, lessors, and other creditors in exchange for the= =20 new agreements. *************************************************** 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 *********************************************************