The Answer Man

The AP's David Koenig offers a good Q & A to give some perspective to the slate of airline earnings. JetBlue is the among the last of the big US carriers to report first-quarter numbers tomorrow, joining US Airways and Alaska Airlines left to report earnings.

One question Keoning tackles: When will business travel strenghten?

When there are signs that the recession is lifting.

Airline executives said travel is one of the first things companies cut when the economy slows, and it will return when companies feel more confident about spending.

"Corporate travel is down pretty significantly, and that's discouraging," said Gerard Arpey, chairman and CEO of AMR.

But, Arpey said, companies "need to go to conventions. They need to go out and drum up business. And I think if the economy begins to pick up steam ... that will bode well for our traffic in the back half of this year."

Watch for more travel executives make the argument that to make money, businesses need to spend money and one way to to do that is to get out in the world. It's a nice line, but as long as companies continue to lay off swaths of their workforce, it's a tough sell.