Ok, good post but a quick rebuttel. Delta's financial position is A LOT better than most, primarily because it did go through BK and did restructure, leases (airport and aircraft), got rid of debt (pennies on the dollar), and gave employee pay cuts (everyone, and pilot pensions unfortunately). They used the BK process well, and got most of what they needed. United, on the otherhand, did not, and still has lots of debt.
You are right, at some point there will be a fuel price that will cripple us all. At that point too, America will be crippled, and consumption will go way down. Less consumption will result in larger unused stockpiles, which will cause the price to fall. The good news for us in all of this is that it is also too expensive for the average person to drive long distances, and if they need to travel will probably go by air.
Delta did ask Shuttle America for a larger RJ (the E175 vs the E170), but is trading them in one for one, with United getting the older E170s. The E175 may have more range, or a slightly larger cabin, and that may be what Delta wants from them. There is no current deal asking for more than the allotted number of RJs with Shuttle America, just a one for one deal.
For Delta to go back into BK, would be very risky. BK judges don't really look favorably on airlines that go into BK twice in a row. USAir would have been liquidated had AWA not come to the rescue (something East guys still cannot see), and if Delta goes under again, everyone except Southwest will too, with Southwest hurting badly. Economic policy can hurt an industry, that is true. But not every airline is hurting the same. The low dollar value here can hurt airlines, and it can also help. Europeans are flying TO THE USA at record numbers, and legacy airlines are filling planes FROM ELSEWHERE to HERE. Those people usually go back to THERE, and that roundtrip is fairly inexpensive to them, but our legacies know exactly how much they need to charge to squeek a profit, and that is why the INTL side of legacies is helping out financially. If your airline doesn't have an INTL side, you may be worrying right about now.
I am not above it all, just looking at it at a different angle than most. We may have a small operating loss this quarter, but a profit for the overall year. The Winter and Fall quarters are never as profitable as the Spring and Summer. It is a natural cycle, with high fuel now built in. Airlines with large INTL presence can usually insulate themselves better than solely domestic airlines. It will be an interesting 08.
Bye Bye--General Lee