THE GREAT DIVIDE

Abstract

This article examines the financial health of the U.S. airline industry, company by company. Seven of the 11 major passenger airlines reported profits in the second quarter ending June 30. Four—Delta, Northwest, United and U.S. Airways—lost a combined total of $2.15 billion. Those airlines best able to control rapidly rising fuel costs do better than those that cannot. A number of charts are included in this article, providing figures on financial results, yields and costs, traffic results, revenue expense gap, non-U.S.. airline traffic, U.S. regional and specialty carriers traffic, U.S. national carriers traffic, U.S. major carriers system traffic, U.S. major carriers domestic traffic, U.S. major carriers international traffic, U.S. on-time performance, and U.S. consumer complaints.