[hobbes1]

Well, Lacking infusions of cash, means Airlines can only go one other place for money, Purchasers....IF the claim was so counterintuitive, why is United asking for 1.8 BILLION ?

[Austin Willard Wright]

If your theory is true, the airlines should have responded to deregulation in the 1970s by raising ticket prices but they didn't. Why not? Competition (including lifting the prohibition on foreign competion) is the way to bring lower prices. One could also ask why the unsubsidized Federal Express is able to undercut the heavily subsidized U.S. postal service.

One should also mention that airport privatization (including the outmoded traffic control system) will also attract new business by making airports more efficient and safer. Heathrow is an excellent example of a successful, relatively secure and quite efficient privatized airport.