During the 2004-2011 period, returns on capital invested in the airline industry worldwide averaged 4.1%(2) . This is an improvement on the average of 3.8% generated in the previous business cycle over 1996-2004(3) . However, this is nowhere near the average cost of capital of 7.5% which represents the return on capital that investors would expect to earn by investing in assets of similar risk outside the airline industry. While some airlines have consistently created value for equity investors, these are few in number. On average industry returns were just sufficient for the industry to service its debt, with nothing left to reward equity investors for risking their capital.