I Wanna Live Forever

Speaking of keeping people on life support, Even for Sickest of Airlines, Financial Skies Can Be Friendly By MICHELINE MAYNARD

Instead of disappearing, the sickest airlines are being kept alive with significant help from lenders, the federal government, patient judges, aircraft companies and even rivals.

As long as the sick companies cling to life, said Southwest's chief financial officer, Laura Wright, the industry remains awash in too much unprofitable capacity…

The glut of assistance is a sore subject at rivals unable to obtain such treatment outside of court protection.

"It's frustrating to us," said a senior executive at a major airline, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "The weakest need to go away for the industry to be healthy for the survivors. The United States is not going to lose its airline industry if one or two companies go away."