AIRLINES

Crandall Defends Fare Strategy: American Airlines Chairman Robert Crandall testified that his carrier launched budget fares last summer in an attempt to improve business, not destroy weaker competitors. “The value plan was an effort to increase our profits, increase our revenues, decrease our costs. We were trying to implement a solution to a business problem,” Crandall said. His testimony came in the third week of a federal trial in which American, the nation’s largest airline, is accused by competitors Continental and Northwest of predatory pricing. American has estimated that it lost $547 million to keep its plan. But Crandall said the carrier expected to lose money on the plan at first.