Aer Lingus, Cathay and others face fundamental questions: What to do with a broken airline model?

Airports, aviation suppliers and manufacturers, financiers, the tourism sector and passengers beware: there are unprecedented numbers of airlines flying today with badly broken business models. The global economic downturn and health pandemic has severely dented the revenues of airlines whose margins are brittle in the best of times. Premium travel has collapsed and there are now fundamental questions being asked about the timing and extent of a recovery in this crucial sector. That word "fundamental" is appearing now with chilling regularity.