After the current earnings release it is clear that SWA is the best positioned airline and it certainly would be premature to ask for concessions. I think the company’s intent was to get unions to consider best the options if demand doesn’t return by October.

SWA is sitting on $15 Billion cash, $10 Billion of which is leveraged. That’s almost 18 months survival without any demand improvement. Not counting the remaining $3B government loan or any other money they can raise with $8B in unencumbered assets and no other debt to speak of. Demand is slowly improving off the bottom. It appears they are positioned to gain off of any overly leveraged airlines in the future. It is hard to imagine the need to furlough even if loads are down 30% in October from last year.