Originally posted by Lokrian
especially since there are profitable airlines out there that seem poised to take their places.
Those poised to take their place are basically being strangled to death because of these big corporate airlines that keep getting propped up by the government and allowed to continue for years after being officially bankrupt. This doesn't happen to the smaller airlines. If they go bankrupt they just go away. And they do go bankrupt because people continually flock to the giant airlines even though they shouldn't be in existence anyway.

Large airlines reduce ticket prices on seats that wouldn't otherwise be sold (often costing them money in the long run) continually thinking that selling quantity will bring them out of the red. ignoring the fact that is exactly how they got there. The end result is a large airline that loses money and goes further into debt and a small airline that loses a sale, thereby losing money and going further into debt. Both of them go bankrupt. But only one gets propped up by the government and allowed to operate that way.