Originally Posted by
LondonElite
And pretty much all US airlines at one point or another received Ch11 handouts from the taxpayer...
Chapter 11 may be a handout, but it's certainly not from the taxpayer. It comes from the other businesses that don't get paid what they are owed.
Originally Posted by
EPMER1
Seriously, our LCCs are already uncompetitive and the great foreign carriers are eating their lunch.
Since most US LCCs don't fly outside North America, I'm not sure how this is possible.
Originally Posted by
BearX220
I see no reason other than nostalgia to classify Southwest as an LCC. Their cost basis is no longer lower than the remainign three hub-and-spoke legacies and their fares are often higher. We have a Big Four now, with a smattering of B-tier carriers, some LCC, some not.
I don't think there is any meaningful distinction between LCCs and legacy carriers. Any carrier that did not fly interstate routes as of the effective date of deregulation is technically an LCC, but since the legacy carriers have all gone through bankruptcy restructuring and lowered their costs, there is now no difference between the two. Rather, it's the ULCCs like Allegiant and Spirit that are disrupting the market.
I can't really predict which airlines will be flying, but whichever ones are left will probably buying aircraft from Comac, which will give Boeing and Airbus a good run for their money in the narrow body category and might even start developing wide bodies.