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The airlines and the government have agreed to use a court-appointed mediator in settlement talks. If those discussions fail, a trial is scheduled to begin later this month and run through mid-December in U.S. district court in Washington. Vicki Bryan, an analyst at the bond-research firm Gimme Credit, said that far-reaching demands by the Justice Department were "disturbing but not surprising." She said the government would push hard for a settlement "to save face" but would find it hard to convince a judge to block the merger. She said holding up the merger would hurt the airline industry by leaving American to carry on "as a below-average, poorly run carrier with a long history of safety concerns." American's parent, AMR Corp., has been operating under bankruptcy protection since November 2011. As part of the bankruptcy case, it agreed to pay a record $24.9 million in fines to settle $162 million in claims lodged by the Federal Aviation Administration for a variety of maintenance and safety issues.
[Associated
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