The crash of an American Airlines Inc. (BB/Watch Neg/B) aircraft at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City today is likely to cause a near-term decline in passenger traffic for that airline and possibly for others. Standard&Poor's ratings for American and parent AMR Corp. remain on CreditWatch with negative implications (as do the ratings of most other U.S. airlines). The severity of the effect on American's traffic will depend on what the cause of the incident is determined to be. Evidence of terrorism would obviously substantially worsen and prolong the loss of passenger bookings. Investigations into the causes of such events normally take a lengthy period of time, sometimes years (though there will be pressure for the
