Slate: What happened to the BILLIONS the airline industry has made since 2008?

[Takket]

https://slate.com/business/2020/03/airlines-bailout-coronavirus.html

If Washington doesn’t do something, all U.S. airlines are going under.

That was the message that industry lobby Airlines for America delivered on Monday, arguing that under the most likely scenario, all seven major U.S. passenger carriers would run out of money between July and December. The group asked for $50 billion in assistance from the federal government, divided evenly between grants (free money) and low-interest loans.

That’s a lot. For comparison, the feds spent $50 billion to bail out General Motors during the financial crisis—most of which was repaid.

It has been a little more than two years since American Airlines CEO Doug Parker told investors, in an instant business school cautionary tale, “I don’t think we’re ever going to lose money again.” How time flies when a viral pandemic ravages the earth.

[Skittles]

1. according to Bloomberg

From 2010 to 2019, U.S. airlines spent 96% of their free cash flow, some $45 billion, to purchase shares of their own stock, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The world’s largest carrier, American Airlines Group Inc., was the biggest buyer, spending $12.5 billion

watch them get a taxpayer handout

[sop]

2. Corporate America: "We privatize our profits, and socialize our losses"