Originally Posted by CPH-Flyer

The reason why the US airlines can provide their service at a lower cost is that they used state subsidies and chapter 11 regulations to get rid of debt obligations they were unable to fulfil, employee pensions and benefits they did not feel like paying, and get out of leasing contracts they voluntarily entered into but wanted to get out of. No wonder they can end up with lean operations when they never really had to pay for past mismanagement.