<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Tango:
I only recall US airways and United going the chapter 11 route---UA is still in chapter 11 and US airways looks like it might be heading back down there again. All of the other airlines have done the right thing by trying to avoid chapter 11 at all costs. </font>
Uh, yeah right ...
Besides United and US Airways:
Continental has filed twice.
Hawaiian has filed twice.
TWA filed three times before AA picked up what it wanted at a fire sale price.
America West filed once.
National Airlines operated for 2 years after filing and pretty much gutted fares involving LAS for everyone during the period.
AMR and some others have used the threat of filing to lower their labor and lease costs, debt burdens, etc and thereby enhanced their competitve position in the marketplace. Alaska stands out as one of the few airlines that has neither gone the chapter 11 route or otherwise somehow significantly reduced their labor costs. Instead they're ditching routes and counting soda cans, while probably sensible things, they still however haven't hit one of the biggest areas for cost savings. Management has been quoted as hoping for over $100 million a year in labor costs savings. Now it would take a lot of cans of soda to match that.
AAG will cut labor costs significantly. It simply has to. Anyone who believes otherwise is living in a dreamworld.
[This message has been edited by Quokka (edited Jan 14, 2004).]