Lack of private means

Over the past several years I can remember reading about half a dozen articles dealing with major problems in the airline industry. After 9/11, the airlines were hit hard with massive reductions in ticket sales. Soon it became apparent that some of the airlines, USAir for example, were on the verge of bankruptcy and the US government was quick to react with huge bailout funds. Recently I found out that the airlines were already in trouble before 9/11, and had that tragic event not occurred, bankruptcy would have still been on the horizon. Considering the seemingly inherent problems with the airline industry, I wonder if the it would better function as a public enterprise? What do you think? Throughout the world, many nations have state-owned airlines, could it work in the US?

A precursor of more problems to come can be found at: