I really feel for all the hundreds of passenger who’ve been left stranded by Zoom Airlines’ shut down today. Undoubtedly, there will be people who miss vacations, or family reunions because of the carrier’s demise.
Of course, this will come as no consolation to people stuck in airport terminals, much less the employees likely to lose their jobs, but this really is a good thing in the long term, both for the airline industry and for the public. As I argued a couple of weeks ago, we need to see more airlines shut down, and for others to get swallowed up through mergers and acquisitions.
The fact that Zoom was unable to secure new financing to keep flying is, in a way, an encouraging sign, even though its a total drag for those directly affected.