Issue Summary

Alaska, American and Southwest all reported profits in the June quarter, albeit with the beneficent help of Uncle Sam, with the steady return of U.S. travelers giving them — and United — optimism for the recovery this fall. In fact, all but American think they will be profitable without federal aid in short order. But all that glitters is not necessarily gold with the spread of the Covid-19 Delta variant (no relation to the airline) prompting renewed pessimism pretty much everywhere but in these airline C-suites. None of these U.S. carriers, nor Air Canada, saw a need for concern or…