The agency was unable to fill the funding gap, forcing it to cut routes and decrease service frequencies.

"There certainly is past practice to cut unprofitable routes," Judge Williams said.

"We're talking about cutting routes that have good ridership," said Chester E. Colby, the agency's director.

Modern additions mean that there are now several different passes cutting different routes through the range.

Japan's war with China had cut the normal distribution routes for heroin and the war had generally disrupted the movement of opium.

The largest growing sector in the market will therefore see load factors falling, be forced to cut unprofitable routes and shrink their fleets.

A few have cut routes and educational programs.

So far, he pointed out, Eastern has tried to cope with the shortage by cutting mostly marginal routes.

Some are cutting routes that were unprofitable before this month, or replacing large jets with smaller regional jets.

As major carriers lay off staff, cut routes and mothball planes, the discounters continue to grow.