More Trouble to Come in the Airline Industry

The global airline industry is taking a beating these days -- it could lose as much as $6.1 billion this year -- and with airlines folding or going bankrupt at a rate of about one a week, it's begging everyone short of the skycaps to help it survive.

The situation is so dire the International Air Traffic Association issued a resolution on Monday at its annual meeting calling on the world's governments, airports and airline employees "to take immediate action to help the industry survive the growing financial crisis." Reading it, you can almost feel the panic enveloping an industry that turned a $5.6 billion profit last year.

"The airline industry is sending a clear message to governments, partners and labor," association CEO Giovanni Bisignani said. The association represents 230 airlines operating 94 percent of all international and cargo flights. "We are in crisis."

Their answer to the crisis is a six-point resolution urging governments to cool it with the taxes, warns workers to be realistic when it comes to contract negotiations and demands that airports revamp and re-engineer their infrastructure ASAP. The resolution has caused some eye-rolling among industry analysts who say begging for help won't save the industry from itself.