diff --git a/icu4c/source/aclocal.m4 b/icu4c/source/aclocal.m4
index df6f9d98f07..974076eef6c 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/aclocal.m4
+++ b/icu4c/source/aclocal.m4
@@ -33,10 +33,14 @@ alpha*-*-linux-gnu)
 	fi ;;
 *-*-*bsd*) 	icu_cv_host_frag=mh-bsd-gcc ;;
 *-*-aix*)
+       if test "$ac_cv_prog_gcc" = yes; then
+               icu_cv_host_frag=mh-aix-gcc
+       else
 	if test -n "`$CXX --help 2>&1 | grep 'IBM C and C++ Compilers$'`"; then
 		icu_cv_host_frag=mh-aix
 	else
 		icu_cv_host_frag=mh-aix-va
+       fi
 	fi ;;
 *-*-hpux*)
 	if test "$ac_cv_prog_gcc" = yes; then
@@ -140,20 +144,22 @@ AC_DEFUN(AC_CHECK_64BIT_LIBS,
             fi
             ;;
         *-*-aix*)
-            OLD_CFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"
-            OLD_CXXFLAGS="${CXXFLAGS}"
-            OLD_LDFLAGS="${LDFLAGS}"
-            CFLAGS="${CFLAGS} -q64"
-            CXXFLAGS="${CXXFLAGS} -q64"
-            LDFLAGS="${LDFLAGS} -q64"
-            AC_TRY_RUN(int main(void) {return 0;},
+            if test "$ac_cv_prog_gcc" = no; then
+             OLD_CFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"
+             OLD_CXXFLAGS="${CXXFLAGS}"
+             OLD_LDFLAGS="${LDFLAGS}"
+             CFLAGS="${CFLAGS} -q64"
+             CXXFLAGS="${CXXFLAGS} -q64"
+             LDFLAGS="${LDFLAGS} -q64"
+             AC_TRY_RUN(int main(void) {return 0;},
                 ENABLE_64BIT_LIBS=yes, ENABLE_64BIT_LIBS=no, ENABLE_64BIT_LIBS=no)
-            if test "$ENABLE_64BIT_LIBS" = no; then
+             if test "$ENABLE_64BIT_LIBS" = no; then
                 CFLAGS="${OLD_CFLAGS}"
                 CXXFLAGS="${OLD_CXXFLAGS}"
                 LDFLAGS="${OLD_LDFLAGS}"
-            else
+             else
                 ARFLAGS="${ARFLAGS} -X64"
+             fi
             fi
             ;;
         *-*-hpux*)
diff --git a/icu4c/source/config/mh-aix-gcc b/icu4c/source/config/mh-aix-gcc
index f5a824c3b64..c27c1cdd1de 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/config/mh-aix-gcc
+++ b/icu4c/source/config/mh-aix-gcc
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ LD_RPATH=	-I
 LD_RPATH_PRE=	
 
 ## enable the shared lib loader
-LDFLAGS += -Wl,-brtl,-bbigtoc
+LDFLAGS += -Wl,-bbigtoc
 
 ## We need to delete things prior to linking, or else we'll get
 ## SEVERE ERROR: output file in use ..  on AIX. 
@@ -53,7 +53,8 @@ SO_TARGET_VERSION_SUFFIX = $(SO_TARGET_VERSION_MAJOR)
 LD_SONAME = 
 
 ## Shared object suffix
-SO=		so
+SO=	a
+A=	a
 
 ## Non-shared intermediate object suffix
 STATIC_O = o
diff --git a/icu4c/source/runConfigureICU b/icu4c/source/runConfigureICU
index 40a4c8b31aa..03b8ab9c443 100755
--- a/icu4c/source/runConfigureICU
+++ b/icu4c/source/runConfigureICU
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ The following names can be supplied as the argument for platform:
     AIX4.3xlC               Use IBM's xlC on AIX 4.3
     AIX4.3xlC_nothreads     Use IBM's xlC on AIX 4.3 with no multithreading
     AIX4.3VA                Use IBM's Visual Age xlC_r compiler on AIX 4.3
+    AIXGCC                  Use GCC on AIX
     ALPHA/LINUXGCC          Use GCC on Alpha/Linux systems
     ALPHA/LINUXCCC          Use Compaq C compiler on Alpha/Linux systems
     BeOS                    Use the GNU C++ compiler on BeOS
@@ -150,6 +151,15 @@ case $platform in
         RELEASE_CXXFLAGS="-O2 -qmaxmem=-1"
         #LDFLAGS=-L/usr/lpp/xlC/lib; export LDFLAGS
         ;;
+    AIXGCC)
+        THE_OS=AIX
+        THE_COMP="gcc"
+        CC=`which gcc`; export CC
+        CXX=`which g++`; export CXX
+        RELEASE_CFLAGS="-O2"
+        RELEASE_CXXFLAGS="-O2"
+        #LDFLAGS=-L/usr/lpp/xlC/lib; export LDFLAGS
+        ;;
 # Just use --enable-threads=no. Visual Age makes no distinction between xlC and xlC_r or any other _r programs.
 #    AIX4.3VA_nothreads)
 #        THE_OS=AIX