They blame the loss of revenue on the world economy.
I blame it on the degradation of the once-best-in-the-world product.
They reduced the quality of the product with the intent of making more money.
Instead, passengers were not willing to pay the same price for a lesser product, so the ticket prices were lowered. Less revenue requires a reduction in costs (lowering the quality of the product) and the spiral continues.
Pan Am, anyone?