American and Delta confident of beating crisis (at FT.com)

on Wednesday each reported quarterly losses exceeding $1bn, as both carriers wrote down goodwill, aircraft and other assets devalued by a brutal industrywide downturn. A relentless surge in jet fuel prices and ebbing demand for air travel have forced carriers to cancel routes, slash jobs, retire aircraft and unveil new fees. Struggling to keep pace with the increase in fuel costs, US airlines are lining up as much financing as possible to avert bankruptcy. But the shares of American and Delta jumped more than 20 per cent as both carriers' results were better than expected, excluding the one-time charges, and they assured investors they had ample liquidity to weather the... [read full story]