American Airlines "American is the biggest carrier, and this is an airline that seems to be somewhat coming back, although they are still struggling financially. They were at the brink of bankruptcy before they got some labor concessions, but they'll continue flying." Delta Air Lines "Delta is a traditional carrier in some serious financial trouble. They have a great route network, and they're the biggest airline across the Atlantic. But they have to make some major changes to reduce their costs." United Airlines "The second largest carrier in the world is still in bankruptcy reorganization. They've made so many mistakes and changes of direction in their filing that I wonder if they know what they're doing. But they'll probably exit bankruptcy within the next year." Continental Airlines "Continental is going to be around for a while. They've been in bankruptcy reorganization twice and they're a better airline for it. They are not afraid to raise fares or levy fuel surcharges. Probably the most fiscally responsible of the traditional carriers." Northwest Airlines "After the shakeout, they'll stand tall. They have a great international network and great middle-America routes. Right now they're trying to cut labor costs but they'll do all right." US Airways "It's an all-or-nothing proposition for this traditional carrier in bankruptcy reorganization. If they get the labor concessions they're asking for, and they make other adjustments, they will survive. But if not, I don't see how they can come out of it." Southwest Airlines "Southwest is the low-cost granddaddy of them all and they're the healthiest in operations and bank balances. I see them growing and expanding. While other low-cost carriers are expanding their in-flight services, Southwest isn't changing their model. They don't need to." JetBlue Airways "Talk about a startup that's working. JetBlue has great fares, great airplanes, and a great attitude. That does it. They'll get by—as long as they don't expand their services too much." America West Airlines "America West started out a low-fare carrier, and then they added premium classes and started to act more like a traditional carrier. Now they've reverted back to their roots and it's worked. They're going to be around for a long time." AirTran Airways "We're going to see this low-cost carrier grow substantially. They've risen from the ashes of the old ValuJet and they're going to do well. They had a tough quarter with the hurricanes hurting travel in the Southeast, but they'll recover." ATA Airlines "Financially, they're probably in the worst shape of all the low-cost carriers. They're doing some restructuring right now. They realize they need the business traveler. And like AirTran, they have premium class service. But it's a wait-and-see with this carrier."