American considering cutting flights to many smaller cities

American Airlines is planning to drop flights to up to 30 smaller US cities if a federal requirement to continue those flights expires at the end of next month, an airline executive familiar with the matter said Thursday. American agreed to keep serving those smaller cities as a condition of receiving $5.8 billion in federal payroll help this spring. However, the money and the requirement to serve those destinations both expire Sept. 30 unless they are extended. The move by American could put more pressure on Congress and the White House to give passenger airlines another $25b for labour costs. Airline unions and the airlines, which are struggling with a steep downturn in revenue as the pandemic undercuts air travel, are lobbying Congress for the money. American is telling the federal government that if relief money is extended, it won't drop cities, but if the money is not extended, it will, said Brett Snyder, a travel agent who writes about the industry at CrankyFlier.com. “This isn’t an idle threat,” and it “is going to happen at all the network carriers,” Snyder said, referring to the biggest airlines. “Demand for air travel has not returned as anticipated,” said Katherine Estep, a spokeswoman for the group, Airlines for America. “Without additional federal aid, US airlines will be forced to make very difficult business decisions, which could include announced furloughs and reductions in service.”<br/>