Forced mergers would be almost as bad as bankruptcies. If the airline industry turns into a monopoly or duopoly or regional monopolies expect airfare to skyrocket.
The vast majority of airplanes airlines have are bought on credit or leased. Other than Southwest Airlines which is probably the only one that owns most of their planes. Every day these other airliners go with massive reductions in customers is money they're bleeding. I can't imagine any amount of consolidation or mergers will prevent their financial insolvency which will happen very soon at this rate.
If they don't get bailed out then it's going to force the nationalization of the entire industry. Would you rather the government bail them out or turn the airline industry into Federal Airlines?
Also, Boeing is the single biggest component of the Dow Jones average, and they are heavily reliant on airplane orders. If the airline industry folds, Boeing will take massive hits on top of the hits they've already taken, sinking the Dow Jones average with it. They could go bust too (they've already maxed out their lines of credit and are bleeding cash) and there goes a major producer of military equipment.
I think the answer is loans - with some interest - combined with direct payments to workers to bridge the gap. Loans rather than a gift of taxpayer money. The loans will be contingent on a bunch of rules including no stock buybacks until the loan is paid off, etc.
How is the modern economy supposed to function if airliners go bankrupt? There's only so much that can go remote so fast.
As much as I'm not a fan of bailouts, it's hard to think of many other industries that are as vital as air travel.
I think they will have to come together and share resources, merge, or fold marginal carriers into larger ones for a period.
Forced mergers would be almost as bad as bankruptcies. If the airline industry turns into a monopoly or duopoly or regional monopolies expect airfare to skyrocket.
The vast majority of airplanes airlines have are bought on credit or leased. Other than Southwest Airlines which is probably the only one that owns most of their planes. Every day these other airliners go with massive reductions in customers is money they're bleeding. I can't imagine any amount of consolidation or mergers will prevent their financial insolvency which will happen very soon at this rate.
If they don't get bailed out then it's going to force the nationalization of the entire industry. Would you rather the government bail them out or turn the airline industry into Federal Airlines?
Also, Boeing is the single biggest component of the Dow Jones average, and they are heavily reliant on airplane orders. If the airline industry folds, Boeing will take massive hits on top of the hits they've already taken, sinking the Dow Jones average with it. They could go bust too (they've already maxed out their lines of credit and are bleeding cash) and there goes a major producer of military equipment.
I think the answer is loans - with some interest - combined with direct payments to workers to bridge the gap. Loans rather than a gift of taxpayer money. The loans will be contingent on a bunch of rules including no stock buybacks until the loan is paid off, etc.