Freighters the "crown jewel.".(fleet and operation reduction at American International Airways)

Kitty Hawk Chairman M. Tom Christopher says deep cuts in the fleet and operations at the American International Airways division are part of an ongoing process aimed at focusing the AIA business on its core cargo business.

In a new bid to repair its troubled acquisition of November 1997, Dallas-based Kitty Hawk is cutting about 1,500 workers and 23 aircraft to take AIA completely out of the passenger charter business, continuing a pruning that has seen Kitty Hawk shed a maintenance division and other diverse operations that came with AIA.

"We're going to focus on what we do good and do more of it and do it better," Christopher [PHOTO OMITTED] said. That means …