There is no airline currently operating that isn't expecting to be profitable in 2010. None. There cannot be a more useless forecast than that one, sorry.

Its hard for me to imagine that investors injected 100 mil for any other reason than the struggling start-up carrier needed it. That said, despite seeing no end to the cash drain at VA, it is very impressive to hear another 100 mil being thrown into the fire. Of course, the strings that come attached to that money may not permit it to be pumped into the wings of the fleet which begs the question again: How much more pain can VA, Spirit, JetBlue, and any other carrier not owned and fueled by a sheik or sitting on a very large pile of cash take?

VA, being privately held, is certainly not going to be open enough to give the gorilla sized competition a clear picture on how much blood is left to be bled and will adopt any and all posturing it can to appear unbleedable. The runaway fuel costs have dictated the game and no amount of IFE can change the rules of the game currently being played, which is: Who can stand on one foot and bleed the longest?

I dig the IFE, the attitude, and the good kool-aid and if this industry made sense those attributes would prevail. Unfortunately, and especially with runaway fuel costs, the big gorilla you compete with knows its all about being able to stand on one foot, and leak.