Air Transport Assn. President and CEO James May said at a Washington news conference yesterday that US airlines do not plan to seek financial aid from the government for expenses associated with delays and increased security as a result of Thursday's events.

"We're not going to ask for reimbursement for a situation like this," May said. However, there was some market concern that the crisis could help stall carriers' nascent economic recovery as Standard & Poor's Equity Research Services said yesterday afternoon that it lowered its outlook on the airline subindustry to Neutral from Positive. It specifically downgraded American Airlines and Continental Airlines, two of the carriers allegedly targeted by the terrorists, and said, "Given today's attempted attacks against a backdrop of high oil prices heading into a seasonally weaker demand period, we think the risks have become too high to continue to recommend purchase of the shares."

MarketWatch reported that the Amex airline Index fell to its lowest level in 10 months yesterday before bouncing back to 46.98, up 1.3%. The late recovery mirrored what occurred at airports throughout the US, according to May, who said that while delays in the morning were "significant," they "smoothed themselves out" as the day wore on and passengers had a better idea of what to expect at security checkpoints. "We haven't had anywhere near the number of cancellations we thought we might have," he said.

May said he could not quantify cancellations, delays or their effect on the network, and he was unwilling to speculate about the economic impact on airlines during the first day. He noted that the Transportation Security Administration resumed random gate checks at 25 airports yesterday and said, "There will be significantly more airports covered with gate checks tomorrow" as all domestic flights are subjected to the new security regulations.

US airlines were quick to post updates on their websites yesterday asking passengers to arrive at airports up to 3 hr. before departure and offering to allow those wishing to change their tickets to do so without penalty, including those who missed their flights because of screening delays.

American Airlines said it was forced yesterday to cancel three of its 16 flights from London Heathrow to the US plus flights to LHR from Chicago O'Hare, Boston and New York JFK, but that it did not see "any significant cancellations or booking away by our customers."