Thursday, September 15, 2005
Fly the Craptastic Skies...
It's going to get worse....and we get to pay for it...
Most analysts predicted a domino effect in the airline industry after United and U.S. Airways filed for Chapter 11 protection some years back. Yesterday, Delta and Northwest filed for barnkruptcy protection. That leaves more that 1/2 of all airline seats in the U.S. market on carriers who are not (in current form) financially viable. Think about it. Delta alone has $28 billion in debt. Under bankruptcy both Delta and Northwest can dump their current pension programs onto the federal government. The Pension Benefit Garuantee Corp. (like the FDIC for pensions) is already deep in the red. So we as tax payers will have to foot that bill.
Some are saying that the advent of discount carriers, high fuel prices and a post 9/11 world will mean less choice and higher costs on flights. There's even speculation that we'll see massive consolidation - Delta-Northwest-Continetal, American-United, etc. More rules, less choice and most likely even more surly service.
Most analysts predicted a domino effect in the airline industry after United and U.S. Airways filed for Chapter 11 protection some years back. Yesterday, Delta and Northwest filed for barnkruptcy protection. That leaves more that 1/2 of all airline seats in the U.S. market on carriers who are not (in current form) financially viable. Think about it. Delta alone has $28 billion in debt. Under bankruptcy both Delta and Northwest can dump their current pension programs onto the federal government. The Pension Benefit Garuantee Corp. (like the FDIC for pensions) is already deep in the red. So we as tax payers will have to foot that bill.
Some are saying that the advent of discount carriers, high fuel prices and a post 9/11 world will mean less choice and higher costs on flights. There's even speculation that we'll see massive consolidation - Delta-Northwest-Continetal, American-United, etc. More rules, less choice and most likely even more surly service.
