From today’s Wall Street Journal (sub required):

“You get out of bankruptcy, and it’s easy to get fat,” says James M. Whitehurst, Delta’s chief operating officer. “We have to continue to think [about] the 100 things we didn’t do” during bankruptcy protection.”

Now, let me get this straight. He’s not out of bankruptcy protection yet, but he’s already thinking about the things the airline hasn’t done while in bankruptcy protection?

I’m a bit confused by this statement. Granted, I think if you asked 10 people who follow the airline well, you’re going to get 9, including me, who would say the airline didn’t even scratch the surface in some areas while in bankruptcy protection — particularly their regional airline operation.

But it sounds here as if Jim knows this.

So if he knew it — then why didn’t the airline use the bankruptcy process to clean up the airline’s operations more thoroughly?

The guys at US Airways must be shaking their heads.