Picking up for failed airlines

It's a little early to know how the liquidation of ATA and Aloha Airlines will impact service from Socal airports to Hawaii, but the early betting is that major carriers like United will be beefing up service. Also benefiting is Hawaiian Airlines. ATA only had a few flights between Hawaii and both LAX and John Wayne, but it would routinely underprice the bigger airlines. More broadly, this could be the start of low-budget carriers either being forced into bankruptcy protection or out of business altogether. (Both ATA and Aloha already had earlier filed Chapter 11s and repeat offenders rarely get a third chance - what the restructuring folks sometimes dub a Chapter 22.) Higher fuel prices are a dilemma shared by most everyone in the business, though the smaller domestic carriers operate more hand-to-mouth operations and are considered more vulnerable. One other plus for the major carriers is their ability to make money on the international routes. United does very well flying between L.A. and Asia, for instance, while Delta has a lock on travel between Atlanta and Europe.