Medary.com

Delta Air Lines is exploring bankruptcy financing:

The Atlanta-based airline is holding the discussions with lenders including GE Commercial Finance, which provided restructuring money in 2004, the Times said, citing both airline employees and members of the financial community. It said GE Commercial declined to comment.

Northwest may be close behind on the road to bankruptcy.

"We think the risk of bankruptcy is too high to continue to hold the stock," Standard & Poors analyst James Corridore wrote in a research note advising investors to sell. He's also not swayed by Northwest's $2.1 billion in cash.

None of the "main line" airlines with their extravagant labor contracts and relatively inefficient operations (compared to, say, Southwest) are a good bet to survive much longer.