As I understand it, apart from Southwest and JetBlue, most other major airlines are financial basket cases - either bankrupt, or about to go bankrupt. Why would anyone in their right mind buy airline stock or otherwise extend credit to an airline?
Actually, Continental has been able to turn a profit in the second quarter of 2005, as they were cutting costs and shedding unnecessary labor long before 9/11. Southwest and JetBlue were founded as low cost carriers and Southwest hedged their fuel costs. Why would anyone in their right mind buy airline stock or otherwise extend credit to an airline?
Low interest rates=easy money. If you are GE Capital, keeping the second generation 737s or 757s that you own in the air with a carrier that is still flying is better than having to reposess said aircraft in the event of liquidation.
As I have consistently said on these threads, we really need at least one carrier (I'm hoping for two myself) to exit the market and reduce capacity for airlines to start making money again. Overcapacity is a much bigger issue, IMHO, than fuel costs.