Frankly, part of me was hoping the deal would fall through.
The airlines should either save themselves or work it out through bankruptcy. That’s what bankruptcy is there for. The airlines can still operate in Chapter 11, and if they can’t, someone else will buy their assets and fill in the gap.
I don’t have any problem with stock buy backs, but airlines’ shareholders enjoyed the benefits of the buy back and should bear the cost when the risk didn’t pan out and their shares go to zero. If you buy stock in a company with a thin balance sheet, you bear the risk that the company will go bankrupt if when is a down turn.
That small business owners were left out is unsurprising. Small business owners and the self-employed are the red headed step children of American politics. Democrats hate them because they aren’t dependent and don’t fit into their class-warfare worldview. Republicans mouth platitudes about them but really couldn’t care less about them.
Airlines would be better off shedding their union contracts in bankruptcy. Somebody else could just buy the airline company brands and 99% of the public would never know the difference.