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Frequent US Airways travelers, or those living in hub cities like Pittsburgh and Charlotte can breathe a sigh of relief.

US Air apparently is not going under any time soon.

But the bad news is that the company is most likely for sale. Uber-entrepreneur and chairman Steve Wolf took control from CEO Rakesh Gangwal today. Analysts say the move may be a preulde to Wolf attempting to broker another deal for the beleaguered carrier.

Earlier this year, UAL (United) and US Air called off the merger that would have helped strengthen United in key markets and kept the stuggling #6 US Airways afloat. Between the federal bailout following September 11's terrorist attacks and 11,000 job cuts, however, it appears the Arlington (VA) based carrier will survive intact into 2002.

But look for another sale attempt by spring. After that, count on soaring fares in markets where US Airways is the chief competitor holding a major airline in check.

Could he be any worse than Carl Icahn?

I never could figure out how he could take an airline like TWA and use its profits to shore up profits in his other businesses--steel, etc., simultaneously forcing the employees to take drastic pay cuts and ultimately bankrupting the airline.

When businesses complain about too many regulations, they shouldn't blame the Democrats...

They should blame the worst of their CEO's, the abusive corporate raiders like Carl Icahn.

Devils like him are what make business regulations necessary.

Fraz, I agree about Carl. His most recent business masterstroke was obtaining the millions of dollars worth of cut rate tickets he could sell on his web site.

He pillaged TWA as well as any robber baron from a century ago, and the only good thing that came out of it was my TWA and American ff miles got combined.

There is a terrific book called Hard Landing that is a history of airlines from day one through the mid 1990s. I highly recommend it if you're ever interested in the subject.

The business papers this morning are saying that Wolf is going to seek union concessions and try to put US Airways more solidly into the regional carrier (50 seat regional jet) niche. If he can do that, he can sell to one of the big three in another 12-18 months.

But unions hate Wolf. This is going to be interesting.