BUSINESS IS BOOMING. Most airplanes are full, or almost so, including–so British Airways’s staff tell me–the pricey first- and business-class cabins on most transatlantic flights. As September 11 recedes from memory, and as the business recovery takes hold, carriers are putting more buns on seats, to use the industry vernacular. And the industry’s safety record is improving.

The result: United Airlines remains in bankruptcy and is planning to lay off 6,000 more workers (10 percent of its work force); US Airways has filed for bankruptcy (for the second time); and Delta, which has lost close to $6 billion in less than four years, is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. All in all, Merrill Lynch estimates that by year-end the industry will add over $4 billion to the $27 billion it lost between 2001 and 2003.