Under the compromise, 10 states, including New York and Connecticut, would be allowed to proceed with efforts to give all competitors equal access to the short-haul market.

This plane was the first jet created for the short-haul market.

Ryanair brought ultracheap fares to much of Europe, charging fees for many extras and transforming the short-haul market there.

It also found that Southwest's presence had resulted in fares that are roughly one-half those charged in short-haul markets where the airline does not operate.

But he pointed to short-haul markets where American has trouble competing with its low-cost rival, Southwest Airlines.

Along with the strong growth in the number of Mainland visitors, most other long and short-haul markets are also performing healthily with double-digit growth over 2006.

Heavy calling on the system's new toll-free number created high hopes about summer traffic, despite two warnings by the company of a weakness in short-haul markets.

The airport is more exposed to the struggling short-haul market and carries less business travellers than Heathrow.

The airline performed an economic analysis and determined it could operate the Boeing 717 more efficiently than the Canadair regional jets in short-haul markets.

But now the carrier has trained its sights on European low-fare, low-service airlines that have come to dominate the short-haul markets on the Continent.