According to an article in The Wall Street Journal, Italian airline, Alitalia-Linee Aeree Italiane SpA, may be the next one to seek bankruptcy protection,
because Italian aviation authorities may revoke their license due to
the airlines financial instability. The airline is losing about $1.6
million a day, the article said. Air France-KLM Group had planned to buy the airline
for $221 million but backed out from the sale because contracts between
the two companies were no longer valid, The Deal reported.
In the U.S., airlines such as Frontier Airline Holding Inc., Skybus Airlines Inc. and ATA Airlines Inc. have all filed for bankruptcy protection recently, in addition to Aloha.
So far, none of these carriers are huge. And we've already
seen Delta Air Lines Inc., UAL Corp. (United Airlines) and Northwest
Airlines Inc. in the Chapter 11 in the last bankruptcy upcycle. It's no
coincidence that, as times get tough in the air, that Delta and
Northwest want to merge.
Indeed, more airlines may go down, but they may be of the
second-tier variety, in which they fly limited routes (like Frontier
and Aloha).
Now that Aloha has sold its contract
services division, which provides ground-support services for domestic
and international airlines at Hawaii's airports, the company will sell
its cargo business. The airline has already lined up Saltchuk Resources Inc. as its stalking-horse bidder for $13 million in cash. - Jamie Mason
Aloha Airlines Inc. is selling off its assets in bankruptcy court, the
latest being the sale of the company's contract services division to
Pacific Air Cargo for about $2 million. What will other troubled
airlines do? 
