American to Cut 11% of Its Flights; Blames Sickout : Airlines: Analysts point to economic decline, not pilot shortage, and say other carriers may also trim schedules.

American Airlines said Friday it would cancel 11% of its daily flights by February “to keep the airline running smoothly” during a labor dispute with its pilots.

About 250 of American’s 2,300 daily flights will be scrapped--cutbacks that some analysts attributed not to an alleged pilot sickout, but to a severe decline in Aerican’s revenue, the result of high fuel prices and the economy’s decline.

The latest cuts--which hit hardest at American’s newest hubs, in Nashville, Tenn., and Raleigh/Durham, N.C.--came a day after the carrier’s announcement that it was dropping service between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Some airlines, such as USAir and Northwest Airlines, have already dropped flights and grounded gas-guzzling aircraft, analysts noted Friday, and still others will probably now follow American’s lead.

“There is too much capacity in the industry right now and American is responding to that,” said Timothy Pettee, transportation analyst with New York-based Alliance Capital Management Co., a large mutual fund manager. “The fact that American is the bellwether of the industry suggests other carriers might follow suit in reducing capacity.”

However, Paul Karos, airline analyst with First Boston Corp., said American’s competitors would find ways to take advantage of the schedule slashes. “I don’t think they will add flights,” Koros said. “But there will be more business for those remaining.”

Dallas-based American, which frequently flip-flops as the nation’s largest carrier with United Airlines, continued to insist Friday that pilot shortages caused by a union sickout forced service cuts.

But the Allied Pilots Assn., which represents American’s pilots, deny that they are engaging in a job action, though the two sides are at loggerheads in their 14-month contract talks.

“If the company managers want to cut back or increase flights, that is their decision and they are paid well for making such decisions,” said Denny King, a union spokesman. “But if they find they have made serious scheduling errors and failed to take into account the downturn in the economy, then it would be proper for them to simply admit their mistakes and not affect the morale of employees.”

Edward Starkman, an airline analyst with Paine Webber, said the supposed job action might have been the “catalyst” for American’s service reductions. But, he added, “In a robust economy American would be much less willing to make such cuts.”

American said Friday it was scrubbing 21 existing flights and 12 planned additions at its Nashville hub and 16 flights at its Raleigh/Durham hub. It is also discontinuing some late night service at its Dallas/Fort Worth hub and eliminating jet service to Fresno.

Four major airlines--United, Delta Air Lines, USAir and America West Airlines--continue to serve Fresno. Nonetheless, Fresno airport officials were dismayed at American’s decision to pull out.

Gale Ledford, an airport spokeswoman, said without American, the city loses its direct link to Dallas. “We are not at all pleased.”

Though American had said Thursday it was canceling its 15 daily round-trip flights between Los Angeles and San Francisco, the airline emphasized yesterday that it was continuing frequent service between Los Angeles and its West Coast hub in San Jose.

Times staff writer Denise Gellene in Los Angeles contributed to this story.