NEWS: More Doubts on US Airways

I've made it clear that I do not believe US Airways will make it so I'll avoid all that rhetoric again. But I haven't spent much time talking about how the carrier could exit the scene. Along those lines I would like to point you to a really interesting article over in the Pittsburgh Review-Tribune. This article compares the viewpoints of two analysts who offer up two different scenarios.

The first, and most obvious, is a complete liquidation. The airline is simply sold off in pieces and the money distributed. There are plenty of airlines that would like a particular piece of the US Airways operation. You know little things like prime gates at Boston Logan, LaGuardia and Reagan airports.

The second and more interesting is the prospect that another airline might buy the whole operation and absorb it. United Airlines was tossed around as a possibility early last year but, please, let's be serious. Mom always said two wrongs don't make a right. But they mention the Branson's Virgin Airlines (coming soon to a US airport near you) as a possibility. Now that would be interesting and a more plausible idea in my book.

NEWS: Virgin Gets Closer to the US

Richard Branson confirmed yesterday that he is in the final stages of securing the financing required for his low cost US airline. Major backing has not been announced but he wants to get his airline off the ground (get it?...off the ground...nevermind) this year so things should start falling into place quickly. I'm not sure how I feel about this. The market is so capacity overloaded that I wonder about the need for another carrier. But with so many majors on the brink of being sucked into the abyss he must see an opportunity to wedge himself into the market. JetBlue proved that a well funded start up with a decent business plan could carve out a niche. I am sure that Virgin US (or whatever it will be called) will be well funded and Branson seems to have a formula for success. So we'll just have to sit back and watch.