A few more interesting paragraphs:

Airlines say that as a practical matter, the money is already spent. AMR booked most of the $900 million in cash it will get from the government in the third quarter, even though it has actually received only half of the money so far. The company still posted net losses of $414 million.

Fred Reid, president and chief operating officer of Atlanta-based Delta, estimates that the industry lost $4.8 billion between Sept. 11 and Oct. 11. "A lot of people don't realize that the $5 billion [in government relief] was basically just enough to stem the immediate losses," he says.

Today, American continues to lose a stunning $10 million to $15 million a day, Mr. Horton says, and Delta continues to lose $8.5 million a day, Mr. Reid says.

Mr. Walsh, the Mercer consultant, advocates a few extreme steps: Reducing or jettisoning the excise tax on airlines; having the government underwrite airline security and insurance expenses; allowing airlines to merge; and starting over on labor's compensation and efficiency.

Mr. Ornstein, the Mesa executive, believes the industry will have to resort to dramatic actions, like eliminating food from flights permanently. In addition, he suggests that carriers may have to train security people on planes to perform some flight-attendant functions to reduce the cost of adding in-flight security. Copyright © 2001 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.


This is a very good article by SCOTT MCCARTNEY, SUSAN CAREY and MARTHA BRANNIGAN.

It should be in today's print version along with an article by the same authors entitled Once-United Airline Industry Squabbles Over $10 Billion in Loan Guarantees



[This message has been edited by blairvanhorn (edited 11-06-2001).]