AMERICAN AIRLINES SAYS IT IS UNABLE TO REACH GATE DEAL

American Airlines issued the following statement today regarding its Love Field gate issue:

"We have not yet been able to reach agreement with Love Field Terminal Partners for gate space at Love Field, though we would like to do so. While these efforts continue, we have asked that the City Council's vote on our request for an East Concourse waiver be deferred. We appreciate the good faith efforts of City Aviation Director Kenneth Gwyn in facilitating these discussions.

"Love Field Terminal Partners has been unwilling to provide us space beyond December 31, 2000. We see no way that the City's master planning process will produce space that we can occupy by the end of this year, so accepting the terms of this offer would leave American homeless at Love Field on January 1. The offer does not address our need for gates until such time as the master plan produces the space we need to fulfill our customer commitments.

"We remain committed to and look forward to participating in the master planning process at Love Field. We continue to believe that a temporary waiver of lease restrictions on the East Concourse offers the best short-term solution to this gate space dilemma. It does not disrupt any other carrier, it costs the City no money whatsoever, it is available and useable throughout the entire master planning process and American Airlines has pledged to vacate it if required to do so by the master plan. We will continue to work toward that result when the City Council returns from recess in August."