The world's biggest air carrier, American Airlines, has blamed 11 September for wider second-quarter losses.

But aircraft maker Boeing has shrugged off the air travel slump with forecast-beating results.

American Airlines said on Wednesday that it lost $465m (�279m) before one-off items between April and June, compared with a loss of just $105m during the same period last year.

Sales were also down sharply, falling 20% on the year to $4.48bn.

The company said the losses reflected steeply discounted air fares aimed at luring back passengers deterred from flying by the 11 September attacks.

Business class empty

American also cited a dearth of premium-paying business passengers, warning that it was heading for a "sizeable" third quarter loss unless business travel picked up.

"We continued to see a very weak revenue environment," the firm's chairman and chief executive Donald Carty said.

"Although traffic has rebounded nicely since last fall, average fares are at 15-year lows, sharply depressing yields."

Investors marked American's shares 23 cents higher to $13.50 despite the gloomy outlook, with analysts tipping air carriers to rebound strongly as the US economy recovers.

All the big US airlines are expected to unveil hefty second quarter losses this week, with the exception of buoyant no frills carrier SouthWest Airlines.

Boeing still airborne

There was better news from the world's biggest aircraft maker Boeing, which on Wednesday said April to June profits came in comfortably ahead of analysts' expectations at $751m.

It looks like (Boeing) did pretty well, all things considered

Paul Nisbet, JSA Research

The company's performance defied a slump in orders as airlines retrenched following the 11 September strikes.

Boeing delivered 112 jets during the period, compared with 141 one year earlier, with total sales falling to $13.82bn from $15.52bn.

Boeing shares also rose, climbing 1.7% to $42.54 in early trade.

Military dividend

The company credited its performance to higher profit margins in military and space operations, as well as efficiency gains in its core commercial aircraft division.

Boeing, which is trimming its operations in line with reduced demand, plans to shed about 30,000 jobs.

"It looks like they did pretty well, all things considered," said Paul Nisbet of JSA Research.

The company said it was sticking by its earlier forecast for $54bn in sales this year and $52bn in 2003.