United Airlines’ filing for bankruptcy protection in Dec. – the largest filing in aviation history – marks the start of at least 18 months of drastic job, wage and route cuts for many other major US airlines, reports The Toronto Star Dec. 10. “The repercussions have already started to impact the industry globally,” The Star quoted Fred Lazar, an industry expert and business professor at York’s Schulich School of Business. “I’m sure all the major competitors have called their unions and said, ‘The world is going to change even more than it’s already changed, and the old way — the old contracts — are now out.’ ”
In a story on WestJet’s falling profits in The Spectator Dec. 10, Lazar said: “What we’re seeing is simply a continuation of the problems of an airline industry that hasn’t recovered. There’s simply too much capacity in the air today.”