Nightly Business Report (PBS) - 2005-09-14
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Read a transcript preview of “Nightly Business Report (PBS) - 2005-09-14” from malgent, uploaded on 2026-01-07.
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Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)
[0:00] you.
[0:07] Good evening, everyone. Delta Airlines
[0:10] and Northwest Airlines late today join
[0:12] the growing number of carriers throwing
[0:14] in the financial towel. Both airlines
[0:17] have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
[0:18] protection after years of steep
[0:20] financial losses. Delta and Northwest
[0:22] are now the third and fourth major
[0:24] carriers to declare bankruptcy along
[0:27] with United and US Airways. That means
[0:29] almost half of the airline capacity in
[0:32] the US is now flying under Chapter 11.
[0:35] As Stephanie Do reports, analysts say
[0:37] there could be other airlines heading
[0:38] down that path.
[0:44] Soaring jet fuel prices and loss of
[0:46] revenue from Katrina swamped hopes of an
[0:48] industry turnaround this summer. Despite
[0:51] more people flying and slightly higher
[0:53] fares, the outlook hasn't improved. For
[0:55] even at
[0:57] a reasonably robust pricing environment
[0:59] right now, the major airlines will lose
[1:01] billions of dollars this year and there
[1:02] is no end in sight to their losing
[1:04] money. Bankruptcies could actually help
[1:07] airlines lose less money by reducing
[1:09] capacity.
[1:10] One of the expected results of a Delta
[1:14] and or Northwest bankruptcy filing would
[1:16] be that each of those airlines would
[1:18] further reduce their flying capacity,
[1:20] particularly in the domestic market. And
[1:22] that'll be good news for the other
[1:24] carriers. Pricing has been improving
[1:26] since February under the pressure of
[1:28] high fuel costs. And if there's some
[1:30] more capacity withdrawn from the system,
[1:32] that would actually allow that to
[1:34] continue. Bankruptcies at large legacy
[1:36] carriers also trickle down and squeeze
[1:38] smaller r