"DSK" wrote in message

Excuse me?
Did you just say the U.S. gov't does not subsidize the airline industry?

There was the one-time bailout following the terrorist attacks, which
legislation did include what you could call indirect subsidy in the form of
deferred tax payments, etc. These deferments have, I believe, all passed in
the intervening 4 years. There is also a small program to subsidize
essential air service to small rural communities, comprising some $120M per
annum, a statistical pittance of which, I believe, Southwest does not
partake. Generally speaking, though, the days are long gone when airlines
were broadly subsidized by federal money across the board.