DALLAS - MOST of the largest US carriers said on Friday they will temporarily reduce service to Mexico, as swine flu fears keeps many US travellers from venturing south of the border.

Continental Airlines Inc, the biggest US carrier to Mexico, said it will cut by half the number of seats it sells to fly to Mexico beginning Monday. The Houston-based airline said it will work with travellers to get them where they need to go, although schedules and routes might change.

Delta Air Lines Inc announced late on Friday that it too will reduce its Mexico service to match declining demand, but it didn't indicate how deep the cuts would be.

UAL Corp's United Airlines said it will cut its weekly flights to Mexico from 61 to 24 this month, beginning on Tuesday. Its June schedule will drop from 90 flights per week to 52. United said Mexico represents less than 2 per cent of its overall capacity.

Continental said it will reduce May flights to Mexico by about 40 per cent and use smaller planes but will continue flying to all 29 Mexican cities it serves. It also extended its waiver policy to let customers with trips booked for Mexico change itineraries without penalty by the end of May.

Continental was running an average of 450 flights a week to Mexico, and the changes will cut its expected May capacity about 2 per cent.

AirTran Airways, which operates only 16 weekly flights to the resort town of Cancun, will cut two of those flights. Spokesman Christopher White said the decision was based on demand over the past several weeks, not just since the flu epidemic hit.

JetBlue Airways Corp. cancelled about a dozen flights over the next month to Cancun because they weren't full enough, said spokesman Bryan Baldwin.

American Airlines was monitoring travel demand to Mexico but hadn't cancelled any flights by late afternoon, said spokesman Tim Smith. AMR Corp's American is the second-biggest US carrier to Mexico.

A spokesman for US Airways Group Inc said that airline is also monitoring the situation. -- AP