AIRLINES

Airlines’ Expansion Criticized: A congressional investigation of the airline industry’s money miseries began with the Clinton Administration chiding airlines for contributing to their own woes by overexpanding. Other critics, including the head of USAir, were far harsher. Some accused the nation’s three largest airlines of adding hundreds of planes to their fleets to drive smaller competitors out of business. The three--United, Delta and American--said their expansions had been prudent, but Patrick V. Murphy, an acting assistant secretary of transportation testifying for the Administration, said the growth has been “far more than needed.”