American Airlines said on Wednesday it was concerned that a plan to expand US daylight-saving time could disrupt international flight schedules and make it tough to compete with foreign carriers.

"We're quite concerned. The issue (for us) is when you get slots that no longer work to compete," Gerard Arpey, chairman and chief executive of AMR, parent of American Airlines, told reporters.

According to the Air Transport Association, flight schedule changes resulting from the US congressional proposal would make passengers of US carriers less inclined to fly at particular times, giving foreign carriers an advantage over their US rivals.

Most of the world's major airports control the arrivals and departures of flights through the use of "slots" or established times when a specific flight can land or take off.

Daylight-saving time occurs each spring when clocks are turned forward by one hour. Clocks in the United States go back one hour to standard time in the autumn.

Last week, US congressional negotiators approved a plan to extend daylight-saving time by four weeks in the year to save energy -- starting three weeks earlier, on the second Sunday in March, and ending one week later, on the first Sunday in November.

The full House and Senate will vote on the plan, which is part of an energy bill, this week. If the bill becomes law, the change would take effect in 2007.

Arpey made his remarks about the proposed daylight-saving time changes at the unveiling of the initial phase of the carrier's new USD$1.1 billion terminal at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport.

He said the new facility underscored the carrier's confidence in weathering industry challenges, including higher fuel costs. "I am confident that over time, this would prove to be a sound decision," he said.

Once complete, the 1,453,000 square feet terminal could handle as many as 12.8 million travelers annually, and is a key part of the airline's domestic and international services strategy, American Airlines said in a statement.