Tough times?
Business management is all about adjusting to change. No business model remains valid for very long, without some adjustment.
The adjustments are already in progress, as various US carriers park significant parts of their domestic fleets, and international destinations, which offer greater yield potetial at the moment, receive increased service.
There is no doubt that some airlines will either die, or be consumed in mergers.
There is also no doubt that when the dust has settled, there will still be ample service provided by US carriers, to destinations both internal and international.
There will be a very rough period of adjustment and change. Carriers will die, and people will lose their jobs. The airline industry is not the first to feel this, nor will it be the last.
At the end of the day, reports of the death of the American airline industry are no more than an apocoliptic fantasy, rather like the time-honored tradition of predicting the coming of the next Great Depression.