Which airlines will survive ?

I guess if I was a Las Vegas bookie I would start taking bets on which airline(S) will make it thru this mess.


https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/air-canada-to-lay-off-20000-workers-as-pandemic-collapses-travel-industry/ar-BB149zAu?li=AAggNb9

I have no idea but, for ease of travel I like American but for my pocket book I am rooting for Delta since I hold their stock.

Most airlines will give up a good portion of their leased aircraft and lay off half their workforce to cut costs. Probably take a few years to recover.

I must be getting old because I will say that many years ago aka in the seventies Swissair was consistently voted best air line. Then overnight they disappeared as a National carrier (greed). I sometimes wonder how many national carriers will be left after this mess.

It seems to me that more and more business will be conducted online rather the in person. Glad I will not be part of it as it will remove the human aspect.

Probably the regional airlines will bite the dust before the big ones. The subsidy money favors the big guys according to the little guys. Need to look at debt and cash on hand and  lines of credit to figure out which of the big guys goes bye bye. Remember when Ford did not go bankrupt because they had a huge line of credit which the other two of the  big three did not have cash or credit to survive. Remember the planes will still exist so new airlines will start up to take advantage of the situation. Labor costs are much less for startups than the big guys. Of course I could be completely wrong :-)

When I flew frequently, it was always first class (company paid), on JAL, Air France, Pan Am, THL, and a few others. Most were absolutely wonderful and the food and beverages were unmatched by most places on the ground.
Sadly, most of them are now gone; replaced by cattle cars.

CanuckBob wrote:Most airlines will give up a good portion of their leased aircraft and lay off half their workforce to cut costs. Probably take a few years to recover.

Airlines lease their aircraft? I had no idea. I assumed that all aircraft were purchased. But an expert on the subject, I am NOT

Yes, many airlines lease some of their jets when their capacity increases.

MexicoPete wrote:

CanuckBob wrote:Most airlines will give up a good portion of their leased aircraft and lay off half their workforce to cut costs. Probably take a few years to recover.

Airlines lease their aircraft?  I had no idea.  I assumed that all aircraft were purchased. But an expert on the subject, I am NOT

Leasing saves cash.

Zedinmexico wrote:

MexicoPete wrote:

CanuckBob wrote:Most airlines will give up a good portion of their leased aircraft and lay off half their workforce to cut costs. Probably take a few years to recover.

Airlines lease their aircraft?  I had no idea.  I assumed that all aircraft were purchased. But an expert on the subject, I am NOT

Leasing saves cash.

We have found, even leasing vehicles is a money saver, considering taxes, here in Mexico.
And as Zed says, doesn´t use up the cash.

I do not see how Delta loses as they canceled flights (mine included) and did not return the cash to the customers. Big lawsuit in the works against all the major carriers. I do say that United gave me a voucher to be used later.

RoyD