I don't long for the dead. Frankly, it sounds a little like mental necrophilia to me. Considering that the US carriers are bleeding to death and imposing fuel surcharges like mad and parking MD-80s, DC-9s and older 737s like crazy, I fail to see why they would have the desire or wherewithal to enter our domestic market.

And while we can start a whole new thread on the ridiculous idea that AC benefitted from protection over the decades - it also was burdened with ludicrous cost and service mandates and as a Crown Corp, had to pay over-market wages to avoid strikes - the fact is that this has no bearing on its ability today to compete with non-union carriers which started the day with nice clean balance sheets.