Airlines Are Hemorrhaging Money—Here’s What That Means for Travelers

To convince us to fly, carriers may actually have to work to woo customers again.

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Welcome to Buy/Sell/Hold, Marker’s weekly newsletter that’s 100% business intelligence and 0% investment advice. Each week, our writers Steve LeVine and Rob Walker make sense of the most important developments in business right now — and give them a Buy for positive trends or clever moves, a Sell for mistakes or missed opportunities, or a Hold if they’re noteworthy but too early to call.

The Unexpected Upside of Airline Losses

The Buy/Sell/Hold Analysis

The airline business has hit a fresh patch of turbulence lately, as carrier after carrier reports dismal financial results: In the last quarter, Delta lost a record $2.8 billion, American lost $2.1 billion, United lost $1.6 billion, and Southwest lost $915 million. The hemorrhaging will likely continue, with Covid-19 cases spiking nationally, and the number of passengers going through its checkpoints continuing to dip.

But lurking beneath these surface trends, an intriguing shift may be underway: Airlines may actually have to work to…