[anovikov]

But ok, they just go bankrupt right? Leasing companies repossess their planes, and that's it. Then new legal entities are established and planes are leased back to them, and they are debt free.

It's not like anyone is going to scrap the planes, or shoot the pilots.

[angry_octet]

Yes, investors have to accept the loss, not the govt. A new budget carrier will arise in a few months, buy any IP they need from the liquidators for a small fee, and re-hire 50% of the old staff straight away.

Provided COVID-19 doesn't get going again next winter.

[anovikov]

What happens if they do not "accept" the loss? It will just happen to them. They will lose cash, that's it.

[kmonsen]

When the stock get wiped out anyone holding the stock will loose their money. Those people are called investors and will loose anything they invested. They do not have a choice. They bought a stock for something, and now it is worth 0 and will never be worth anything ever again.

There are of course other options in restructuring etc, but investors can always face the possibility of loosing all the money they have invested.

[anovikov]

That's exactly what i said. Some guys will just lose their money. It no way means that airlines that went bankrupt will be physically destroyed: no one will scrap the planes or machine-gun the pilots. They will all be flying again the day the demand rebounds and COVID restrictions lifted, just under new legal entities.

[frank2]

I am pretty sure COVID will strike again next winter.

[pbhjpbhj]

I'd say "will still be active". Look at MERS, SARS, H1N1, ..., active for much longer than I'd imagined; AFAICT in those cases the crises left the news long before they stopped being a widescale medical issue that needed special interventions.

MERS peaked in 2014 (and 2015, 2016, ...), but there are still cases.