LOS ANGELES, July 20 (Xinhua) -- The number of airline flights across the United States has been drastically reduced due to increases in fuel price and decreased spending by travelers, local media said on Sunday.

    The three big domestic airlines, American, Delta and United are slicing service dramatically everywhere, local Daily Breeze newspaper reported.

    The Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) has been among the hardest hit, with the number of flights scheduled through the airport being dropped 16.4 percent in the last 12 months, the paper said.

    American Airline plans to eliminate 86 LAX arrivals and departures per week in November. Delta plans to eliminate 68, and United plans to axe 266 flights in and out of LAX per week as well.

    And that's just the big planes, the airlines said, as the affiliated regional airlines flying under the big companies' names plan to slash more than 1,200 weekly commuter flights at LAX, said the report.

    The Daily Breeze reported the decrease in landings means a decrease in landing fees just as LAX is planning a major expansion funded by that revenue.

    The Los Angeles World Airports staff is devising a new fee structure for consideration by the city's Airports Commission later this summer, the paper said.

    Airport spokeswoman Nancy Castles told the paper she could not corroborate the 16.4 percent figure. But an industry expert said service cuts are going to cost LAX millions in landing fees, concession profits and parking lot revenues.

    Aviation analyst Mike Boyd said the recent cuts may be just the beginning. "I wouldn't be surprised if the airlines took a chain saw and hacked away at their schedules even further.

    "LAX is not in a death spiral and is still going to be a busy and airport, but I predict deeper cuts in the next few months," he told the Daily Breeze.

Fuel price hikes drive rethink of U.S. suburbs

A couple walk their dog in Denver's Stapleton development on July 6. High gas prices in the U.S. are bringing home buyers to the Colorado region, which used to be an airport and is in the process of becoming a town connected to the downtown area by bus, bike trails and, in 2014, rail.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, July 11 -- Ever since the rise of the automobile in the 1950s, the American Dream has featured a home in the suburbs and two cars in the garage.

    Now the iconic white picket fence comes with a hefty price tag, in the form of the cost of the gasoline needed to drive to work and to the supermarket - bringing the suburban idyll under review. Full story

American Airlines to cut 7,000 jobs amid high fuel costs

    BEIJING, July 3 (Xinhuanet)-- American Airlines told employees on Wednesday it would axe nearly 7,000 employees by the end of the year, or about 8 percent of its worldwide work force, to cope with skyrocketing fuel costs.

    American, the nation's largest carrier, said the cuts were necessary "to overcome near-term challenges and secure our company's long-term future." Full story