Abstract
The airline industry has significantly changed over the last few years of this century. Incidents such as the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, of Madrid and London, Iraq war and fuel prices increase have caused losses since 2001 in the accounts of airline companies. Some of them declared bankruptcy, and some like UAL Corporation, faced financial crisis. After implementing a plan of restructuring to decrease costs, airline companies could renew with growth and profitability in 2006. However, as there was intense competition between traditional and low-cost carriers, it became a case of survival of the fittest. The Southwest Airlines and United Airlines are two main companies in the United States. It will be interesting to analyze and interpret the accounts of both these airline in order to understand how they transformed bankruptcy to success.
