Two weeks ago, I looked at how soaring oil prices will turn flying into hell.

Now we have some advice from BusinessWeek's Traveler's Check blog on how to save the industry.

Bob Crandall, the former president and chairman of American Airlines, regarded by some as an industry icon, says mergers are not the solution because they won't lower fuel prices and are likely to force up costs. The answer, he says, is to take away the sanctuary of Chapter 11 and to relax anti-trust laws to enable alliances where they can contract with each other to fly the last leg of a connecting flight.

Some might say that's anti-competitive but Crandall's message is clear: that could be one of the only ways that some airlines are going to survive.