As the WSJ highlights, The U.S. airline industry's newfound health is breeding something not seen in years: a flock of startups.
Two fledgling carriers already have taken off. One is a reincarnation of the old People Express Airlines, a discounter that folded in 1987. The other is a French all-business-class carrier, plying the Paris-to-Newark, N.J., route.
Others are still in various stages of incubation, hoping to raise sufficient funds and receive government clearance to take wing.
Entrepreneurs see opportunity in the service cuts—a side effect of years of restructuring and consolidation—that have helped the U.S. airline industry attain its highest profit margins since the late 1990s. Today four big carriers control some 82% of domestic capacity.
Unfortunately, airline startups all share an ill-founded optimism, some analysts say—that they can defy the odds in an industry that has experienced 77 bankruptcies and multiple liquidations in the U.S. alone in the past 20 years
