I feel all smiley on the inside when I read this. It is the voice of someone trying to convince themselves that they are right.
No one knows what the airline industry will look like in five years, ten years, fifteen years let alone twenty. The one thing that is certain is that the future will not look like the past.
My prediction for the next decade; there will be another economic down turn (as if we ever recovered from the last one), there will be bankruptcies, there will be unforeseen events and probably another war.
If Obama is reelected, energy costs will continue to increase dramatically ( have to get those tundra dwellers to turn off the heat and those desert dwellers to turn off their A/C, lest the rest of the world be, 'Not OK with that'.
If Romney is elected energy prices will probably be at record lows by the end of the decade as we abandon wind and solar in favor of domestic drilling in Utah, Wyoming, Montana, ANWAR and in coastal waters, develop our vast natural gas reserves, pursue coal liquefaction. We need to stop contaminating our fuel with ethanol which is a loser every way you look at it.
Whoever is elected there will be corruption and scandals.
As for the airlines? One more legacy will probably be gone and several regionals will disappear until there are only two or three. The regionals will fly anything less than 125 seats. Genny Lee will still be an FO.
My well place hot dog stand in Provo will earn me about twice what a senior Southwest Captain makes, before I begin to franchise.