Local News in Brief : Countywide : American to Make Up Feeder Airline’s Overrun

American Airlines said Tuesday it will not have to cancel any flights at John Wayne Airport even though a small feeder airline tied to American exceeded its airport passenger quotas.

Al Becker, spokesman for American, said the airline will be able to use part of its flight allocation that was authorized but never flown to help keep Wings West from being barred from the airport.

Wings West operates American Eagle commuter flights under contract to American.

Wings West officials acknowledged Monday that the airline had exceeded its annual allocation of 34,000 passengers more than three months before the end of the airport’s operating year.

Under a proposed agreement with the county, which owns the airport, Wings West agreed to reduce its round-trip flights from 10 to four a day, starting Sunday. To preserve its American Eagle feeder service, American also agreed to give up 130 flights from the airport from now to March 31.

Becker said Tuesday that American would draw upon flights previously scheduled or authorized but never flown to fulfill its part of the agreement, rather than change its flight schedules.

“These are flights that were canceled earlier in the year because of weather, equipment problems or for other reasons,” Becker said.