American Settles Consent Decree Dispute With the United States Department of Justice FORT WORTH, Texas, Aug. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- American Airlines released the following statement today regarding an announcement by the Department of Justice concerning a consent decree: American Airlines has settled a technical dispute with the Department of Justice relating to a 1994 consent decree, without admission of wrongdoing. The 1994 consent decree arose from a lawsuit that the government filed against American and other carriers in 1992. The carriers settled that dispute, also without admission of wrongdoing, and that settlement was approved and adopted in the 1994 decree. The most recent dispute with the government concerned a change American made in 2002 to purchase requirements on select fares. The government alleged that these changes were made in a manner that violated certain technical provisions of the 1994 consent decree. Although American disagreed with the government's interpretation of the consent decree and the facts, it elected to resolve the matter, rather than engage in lengthy and costly litigation with the government. "We are pleased to have resolved this dispute with the government," stated Gary Kennedy, American's Senior Vice President and General Counsel. "Although we disagreed with the government's position, we did not view it to be in the company's best interest to engage in a contentious legal battle with the government. This settlement will allow the company to remain focused on doing what is necessary to succeed in the fiercely competitive airline industry." Editor's note: Please use the above statement for comment, since we do not intend to speak beyond the provided statement on this issue at this time. DATASOURCE: American Airlines CONTACT: John Hotard, or Al Becker, Corporate Communications, both of American Airlines, +1-817-967-1577, or

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