By Matt Sepic, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – 
American Airlines cut more than 200 daily flights from its St. Louis schedule on Saturday and eliminated another 1,500 area jobs as part of a company-wide cost cutting plan.
At Washington University on Friday morning, business leaders, economists, and other experts discussed the future of the airline industry. Giving the conference's keynote address was Yale University law professor Michael E. Levine, who was responsible for the overhaul of Northwest Airlines' route system and fleet strategy.
He spoke with KWMU's Matt Sepic and says American's cuts were inevitable, given the low-cost competition from Southwest.