There are two separate issues being discussed here:
1. Several airlines have recently tanked due to rising fuel costs, industry competition, etc. Others may be coming down the pike this year. This is nothing new in the airline industry, but will certainly be prevalent as the cost of fuel isn’t going to decrease anytime soon.
2. American Airlines (among others) canceled a bunch of flights due to overdue inspections on certain aircraft. This doesn’t have anything to do with oil prices. When Southwest was fined, other airlines had to sit up and take steps to avoid the same thing happening to them.
I can’t answer your other questions, dumbrenter, but I am seeing from your posts and those of others that people are discussing two separate and not necessarily related issues.