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AA strike deadline set
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May 31, 2001: 4:44 p.m. ET
Flight attendants could strike American July 1; two sides back to table June 5
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Federal mediators said the clock towards a possible strike by American Airlines flight attendants will start Friday and could lead to a strike at the nation's second largest airline on July 1.
The National Mediation Board, which oversees labor relations in the airline and railroad industries, will call the airline and the Association of Professional Flight Attendants back to the table on June 5. It pointed to comments by both sides that they were committed to reaching an agreement during the next month without a work stoppage.
Flight attendants late Wednesday afternoon rejected the NMB's offer of binding arbitration, which meant that the two sides would be released into a 30-day cooling off period that must precede any strike in the industry. Thursday's announcement merely set the time frame for that 30-day period.
Shares of American parent AMR Corp. (AMR: Research, Estimates) gained $1.07, or about 3 percent, to $38.99 in trading Thursday, the day after the union's rejection of arbitration. AMR, which bought Trans World Airlines earlier this year, is the world's largest airline holding company, although it has yet to integrate the two airlines into a single carrier.
Pilots at Delta Air Lines (DAL: Research, Estimates) reached an agreement with that airline during their 30-day cooling off period in April. Even if there is no agreement, President Bush has the power to keep flight attendants on the job, a power he used to avert a strike by mechanics at Northwest Airlines (NWAC: Research, Estimates) in March.
Many analysts believe he would use that power to keep American flying as well, although he has not intervened to stop a pilots strike at Delta's feeder airline unit Comair Inc., which started March 26.
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Bush said in February that he was concerned about the impact a strike at a major airline would have on the slowing U.S. economy. American's statement referred to those comments by the President.
"We want to assure our customers that we do not anticipate any disruption in service," its statement said. 
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