Outlook on Airline Earnings Worsens: Most U.S....

Outlook on Airline Earnings Worsens: Most U.S. airlines are reporting sluggish passenger traffic for February, confirming that they have lost their most precious customers: high-yielding business passengers. This means that the carriers, bashed by a sharp drop in traffic during the six-week Gulf war, may lose more money in the first quarter than some analysts had anticipated. Some travelers have started to return to the skies now that the war is over, but “we’re rebounding from a lot lower levels than I thought,” said Glenn Engel, a Goldman Sachs analyst.