EAGLE GROUNDED

In the thick of the holiday travel season, American Eagle today grounded flights serving Chicago and five other Midwestern cities until Jan. 4. The commuter airline, beleaguered after two fatal crashes in six weeks and facing federal orders raising safety standards for all commuter aircraft, cited pilots' desire for more training in icing conditions. After grounding its entire Chicago-based ATR turboprop fleet Dec. 9 -- the models grounded in icy weather -- American Eagle had recently resumed the service with different planes. (An ATR model was involved in the Oct. 31 crash that killed 68 people in Indiana.)