Alex,
Sorry, but you are on the wrong side of the argument here - it is not simply opinion, but very much a fact of airline economics that passenger numbers on their own have very little bearing on financial health.
I must also take issue with this:
Costs should be on their way down now that oil is back to $65 a barrel
In fact - no - costs might even have risen, as sterling has been shot to pieces. Falling currency = increasing costs if denominated in dollars.