Source: Forbes
Author: Mark Tatge

So both Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines are in bankruptcy. Even though most of the airline industry has landed in Chapter 11, does it solve the airline industry's problems?

Not in a heartbeat. These problems are systemic. They stretch far beyond just paying pilots too much money, incompetent management, soaring jet fuel costs or not charging enough at the ticket counter.

The industry's problems are rooted in an antagonistic labor culture. Workers hate their jobs and take out their ire on customers.

For the airlines to succeed, they need to start treating their employees better and realize they are in a service business. It's going to be hard to do that in bankruptcy--especially since in the end, it all comes down to how much the workers feel they're valued.

Air travel is a miserable experience. People hate to fly. Yet travelers tolerate it because they don't have much of a choice. Driving from Atlanta to Chicago for a business meeting just isn't a solution.

So how did we get here? During the past four decades, the U.S. aviation system was designed and expanded by the federal government in cooperation with the airline industry. Airports were built with federal funds and municipal bonds. With the expansion came fat pay and benefit packages.

Air service was viewed as positive for the economy. And it was a great economic engine. The problem is that we can't afford to maintain what we (over) built. We have an aviation infrastructure centered on maintaining large fleets of airplanes that will fly to almost anywhere. Now, we can't afford to pay for it.

Six airlines are now in bankruptcy--UAL's United Airlines, US Airways , Delta, Northwest, ATA and Aloha Airlines. They could be joined by Continental Airlines and American Airlines, arguably the two best-managed legacy carriers. Something is seriously wrong here, and it isn't just that jet fuel is running $1.89 per gallon.

There needs to be a major revolution in how these businesses approach their markets--everything from how tickets are sold to where the airlines fly and how they serve customers. We need to change our air traffic control and rethink the past legacy of building massive airports.

Now, bankruptcy is being turned to in order to iron out these serious structural problems. Shrink. Lower costs. Cut routes. Trim employees. But what is being done to change the culture? The infrastructure? Nothing.

US Airways and United Airlines are the latest example--two carriers that had the bad dead idea several years ago of merging. Luckily, they were stopped.

Both airlines slashed costs. Now, they are attempting to reemerge from Chapter 11 protection with new capital from lenders.

So what have the brain trusts at these two airlines uncovered as the solution? Become lower-cost network carriers that fly a national route system that still caters to leisure travelers and business travelers, that still have frequent flier programs and maintain hubs. Use the Internet to sell fares.

If all this sounds like the same old United and US Airways, it is.

The airlines still have an army of grumpy employees. They have seen their paychecks slashed, their pensions cut or eliminated. Resentful workers are happy to remind you of that fact every time you fly.

For the airlines to succeed, they need to start treating their employees better and realize they are in a service business. It's going to be hard to do that in bankruptcy--especially since in the end, it all comes down to how much the workers feel they're valued.