US airlines are providing two lessons for analysts: that this time really is different and the industry can make money despite high fuel prices. Following a host of airlines to profitability, except Southwest and American, US Airways remained profitable despite posting a 68.4% negative swing on profitability.

Indeed, US Airways CEO Doug Parker summed it up nicely when he said: “The average fuel price per gallon is almost exactly the same in 2011 as it was in the industry’s worst year in 2008 when US Airways lost USD800 million and, now, in 2011 we’ve made nearly USD100 million. That major improvement is clearly not due to the improvement in the global economy. It has come from a lot of hard work and a real industry transformation that included consolidation, capacity constraints and cost controls as well as management that cares more about return on capital than about growth and market share.”