More Airline Woes

Tough times continue for Mesa, Frontier and US Airways

Just two days ago, I wrote that we are all tired of these troubled travel times and posted some positive news about a few favorite places in the West celebrating important anniversaries this year. That was then, and this is now -- time to report more discouraging airline news. Mesa Air promises to file for bankruptcy on July 20 if Delta severs its commuter contract for regional service. For its part, Delta claims that Mesa has not lived up to some of its agreements. Without going into tedious detail, the result could be that travelers again are the losers.

Frontier employees have taken pay cuts to help out their employer, which is operating under bankruptcy protection.

The New York Times reported yesterday that the United-US Airways merger talks appear to have unraveled. According to the paper, "There has been little to no contact between United Airlines and US Airways in recent days and the internal teams of senior executives at both companies, as well as external bankers and lawyers assigned to the project, have put it on 'permanent hold,”' one person involved in the talks said. While it remained possible the talks could be revived, people involved in the most recent discussions said they had never advanced to final negotiations."

Perhaps in preparation for continuing to go it alone, US Airways is further circling its fiscal wagon by eliminating free peanuts in economy class.