NYT: Airlines, in Search of Relief, Warn of Bankruptcy
SEP 15, 2001
Airline executives and analysts expressed grave concern for the industry yesterday, warning that mounting losses stemming from this week's terrorist attacks could force most of the country's major carriers into bankruptcy.
"This patient is dying very quickly," Gordon M. Bethune, the chairman and chief executive of Continental Airlines, the fifth largest carrier, said in a telephone interview, referring to the industry. "We all are going to be bankrupt before the end of the year. There is not an airline that I know of that has the excess cash to handle this."
The industry's losses are estimated at $100 million to $275 million a day since Tuesday, when the government grounded all flights for the first time ever.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/15/national/15BAIL.html