Two thoughts: * there's a structured process for when a company can't pay its bills but is possibly viable in the long run if it can restructure its obligation

Two thoughts: * there's a structured process for when a company can't pay its bills but is possibly viable in the long run if it can restructure its obligations called Chapter 11. The airline industry has tons of examples of companies that continue operations through chapter 11 proceedings and end up as profitable on the other side. I don't see why that process is suddenly off limits today. It would require equity holders (and likely some liability holders) to take a haircut, but I'd argue investors knew the risks they were taking given the history of the airline industry. * if the $45B was returned to shareholders in the form of dividends, would that be somehow less evil? I keep seeing articles citing share buyback numbers, but the whole point of publicly traded companies is to return capital to shareholders.