Report: American To Buy TWA

.c The Associated Press


WASHINGTON (AP) - Trans World Airlines, the longest continuously flying name in
American commercial aviation, will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection
this week, as a precursor to a being bought out by American Airlines, The
Washington Post reported in Monday's editions.

``We don't have anything to say about that,'' TWA spokeswomen Julia
Bishop-Cross told The Associated Press late Sunday night. Officials at
American, based in Fort Worth, Texas, also declined comment.

The Post, citing unidentified sources, said the deal includes American buying
49 percent of DC Air.

The Post said the deal will be announced Wednesday. Terms were not available.

The sale described could end TWA's decade-long struggle to turn a profit.

Of the nation's top airlines, TWA was the only carrier to lose money in 1999 -
$353 million, the worst financial performance since the airline's second
financial reorganization in 1995. It was on pace to do worse in 2000, despite
increasing revenues. Through the first three quarters, TWA lost $115.1 million.


The Post reported that American would purchase all of TWA's assets and keep all
20,000 of the carrier's employees. The deal would make American, a subsidiary
of AMR Corp., a comparable size carrier to the proposed United-US Airways
merger.

TWA's hub operation at Lambert Airport in St. Louis would give American a third
hub in the middle of the country. American already operates hubs at Chicago's
O'Hare International Airport and at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

The sale continues a trend of consolidation in the airline industry that
started when United Airlines, the nation's largest carrier, announced plans to
buy US Airways. The Justice Department has yet to sign off on that merger, but
the department has approved an alliance between Northwest Airlines and
Continental Airlines.

The Post also reported that part of American's purchase of TWA could include a
deal with United to jointly operate the US Airways shuttle between Washington
to New York and Boston.

``This will handle most of the antitrust issues,'' Darryl Jenkins, a professor
at George Washington University told The Post. ``This one deal will make the
merger of United and US Airways likely.''

United Airlines spokesman Andy Plews declined to comment when reached late
Sunday by The Associated Press. US Airways spokesman Rick Weintraub said his
company had no comment on the report.

There is no telephone listing in Washington for DC Air, which is still in the
formation stage.

Tim Doke, vice president of corporate communications for American, also
declined to comment, saying: ``There is frequent speculation in the media about
various transactions in which American Airlines may or may not be involved and
we have a strict corporate policy not to comment on such rumors and
speculation. We are talking to lots of folks about lots of different things all
the time.''

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