BUSINESS BRIEFING / AIRLINES

Passenger airlines such as AMR Corp.’s American Airlines and Delta Air Lines Inc., along with freight shippers, will be hard pressed to meet a deadline requiring all air cargo to be screened for security by mid-2010, industry officials say.

About half the electronics, fish, flowers and other goods riding on U.S. passenger carriers are inspected by airlines or freight handlers, the minimum under a rule that went into effect last month. By August of next year, all of the 10,000 tons of freight carried daily by airliners must be inspected.