MOST FLIGHTS GET OFF GROUND AS AIRLINE, PILOTS REOPEN TALKS.

Byline: Katie Fairbank Associated Press

Most of American Airlines' flights took off as scheduled Monday as negotiations resumed between the company and its pilots on the integration of recently purchased Reno Air.

American's parent company, AMR Corp., and the Allied Pilots Association headed back to the table with virtually no change in the positions they held 10 days ago before pilots began calling in sick and refusing overtime, canceling thousands of flights and delaying travel for more than a half-million passengers.

About 800 of American's 9,400 pilots still were listed as sick Monday, compared with nearly 2,500 who declared themselves unfit to fly Thursday and Friday, American officials said.

About 250 - or roughly 11 percent - of the scheduled 2,250 flights were canceled because pilots weren't immediately available. American spokesman John Hotard compared the pilots' action to bad weather over the airline's Chicago, Miami or Dallas-Fort Worth hubs in its impact on the airline's flight system.

The Fort Worth-based airline has canceled only 17 flights scheduled for today, Hotard said.