The need to shrink

摘要

It has been a long haul. In the past 18 months America's biggest airlines have shown signs of life after a near-death experience in the aftermath of the attacks on September nth 2001. At one time or another, four out of the "big six" network carriers succumbed to Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and as late as 2006 nearly half the seating capacity in America belonged to airlines in Chapter 11. But since then booming demand for travel, along with the painful cost and capacity reductions of the past few years, have given America's airlines surging profits and the fastest-improving yields in the industry.