Why U.S. Airlines Will Need to Lose the Hubris After We Bail Them Out
Photo Credit: Delta Air Lines wanted investors to treat it like a high-quality industrial company. Picture is an Airbus A321. Delta Air Lines
Skift Take
Richard Anderson, the former Delta Air Lines CEO, loved to talk about how Delta was a high-quality industrial company. Delta is a great airline, no doubt. But let's be honest: Airlines are not regular companies. We're now being reminded of that fact.
When the Trump Administration, a.k.a taxpayers, bails out U.S. airlines for $50 billion or more — it will happen, whether or not anyone uses the "b" word — many travelers will react with righteous indignation. They will say, how dare they? Or, they deserve to go out of business.
These people will have a point. Many airlines made a fatal error in the past five years. Business was so good airlines thought they were real companies. They figured they could leverage good times to push profits into the stratosphere. As they added fees while reducing passenger comfort, carriers wanted to prove to investors they were every bit as "real" as Federal Express or even Amazon. They also pushed to buy back stock, with the largest carriers using 96 percent of their free cash flow ov
