A reminder Thursday from American Airlines that while some parts of the economy are on the road to recovery, these are still turbulent times for the airline industry.

American announced plans to stop flying to 15 U.S. airports, which would take out about 700 flights in October, unless it gets another round of federal monetary assistance.

The airline says the cuts are needed to offset continued weakness in air travel.

Congress has been feuding for weeks on whether to grant airlines another $25 billion in payroll assistance that would keep tens of thousands of airlines workers on the job for another six months.

Airlines agreed not to lay off workers through September 30th in exchange for $25 billion in federal money that was dished out earlier this year.

American Airlines received almost $6 billion of that first round of cash.

Several airlines have privately warned lawmakers that unless they get more money, they will be forced to suspend service to smaller airports and lay off staff.

Airlines passengers are slowly coming back but demand is still down an eye-popping 80 percent from the same time last year.

Shares of American Airlines tumbled on Thursday and dragged the entire airline industry lower.