Gas Attack II: Bye-bye, beaches

US gas pains are cramping airlines nationwide. American says fuel costs will force it to cancel about 1% of its flights, maybe 15 daily roundtrips from its O'Hare and DFW hubs, through January, while its Eagle subsidiary is pulling down some 550 'light load' flights this month alone to save in fuel; Delta just tried a similar cancellation policy.

Now Spirit Airlines says it will halt its flights from Washington's close-in Reagan National airport to the Atlantic Coast holiday area of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, next month because gassing up at that little airport now costs it more than twice what it did when Spirit began the service last fall. At more than $3 a gallon by the time it's pumped "into the wing", the fuel costs give Spirit no choice, it says, but to suspend the MD-80 flights. What makes it more painful is that Spirit went through a lengthy competition to win the Reagan landing slots for the service.