have you forgotten Sabena,Alitalia,Swissair
As a former Swissair employee, I certainly did not forget Swissair and how it's end came about. And the pressure the EU exercised against the non-EU Swiss government which lead to them letting it go down. And the fact that the re-emerged successful carrier was sold for peanuts to Germany, where it's the cash cow for it's mother now.
The impact this scandal and the way it was dealt with had on our country is felt until today. Whatever trust I had in the country ended that day. It has never been restored and Switzerland has been on the decline since. Looking at the renewed attacks on our sovereignity in recent months, the country's failure to back Swissair will at some stage be remembered as the beginning of the end.
Swissair failed because of an ill conceived expansion plan, not because it was internally weak or unprofitable. Swissair failed, because it's parent company severely misjudged the risks and badly executed the take overs of namely Sabena and AOM. Not because it was a bad product.
Ever since this happened, this country's self confidence has all but disappeared. It will probably end one day by Anschluss to the EU, something which politicians here crave for since a long time. It all started with the end of one of the most respected airlines of the world.
Tell me. If British Airways or Air France would ever fold, do you think that any government under which this happens would survive this? No way. Likewise with Lufthansa, who btw is doing EXACTLY the same thing now then what Swissair's Hunter Strategy was about with high success. Could a German government survive a bancruptcy of Lufthansa? Never.
You mention Alitalia. If the same criteria would have been applied to it as it has been to Malev, Alitalia would have been gone YEARS ago. It is still there.
A country whose flag carrier disappears has to a large extent lost it's national identity and it's representation in the world. Hungary better consider this and see that they re-start something else which deserves to carry their flag. Otherwise, they might well pull the flag of their parliament building as well.