What would you do if you were CEO of a major airline?

— -- On the business travel speaker circuit, I'm often the bearer of bad news for air travelers. U.S. airlines have cut capacity, raised airfares and imposed fees for everything from snacks to checked luggage to seat selection. Despite these forceful moves to raise revenue and reduce costs, the nation's top ten airlines still lost over $4 billion in the last quarter and nearly $20 billion in 2008.

No one wants to pay more for less, but corporate travel managers also worry about service disruptions and loss of competition when airlines shrink, go bankrupt or liquidate. So it was not surprising following my somber forecast when someone asked, "What would you do if you were chief executive of a major U.S. airline?"

Travelers are quick to criticize airlines, and such criticisms are often well deserved. But few offer realistic solutions to stop the losses and make flying pleasurable again. Fixing an airline losing millions of dollars each day is no easy task. Airlines, once protected and subsidized in a regulated industry, were suddenly forced to compete with scores of nimble, low-cost upstarts that cherry-picked the most lucrative routes and weren't saddled with aging aircraft, outdated computer systems, bloated payrolls and union rules and wages. Twenty major airlines during regulation morphed into five surviving "legacy" airlines today that are still losing money even after shedding billions of dollars in costs.

Now in the past decade, heinous terrorist acts, pandemic panics, skyrocketing oil prices and a global recession have brought the industry to its knees. Even with this adversity, there is no excuse for outrageous executive bonus pay, employee abuse and poor management decisions that alienate an airline's best customers. So here are ten things I would do if I were CEO of a major airline:

1) Treat employees well. Every business school graduate is taught: "If you treat your employees well they will treat your customers well." Somewhere along the way the big airlines have forgotten this guiding principle. Salary cuts, layoffs and pension fund dissolutions have generated much ill will and resentment. When times get tough, that's precisely the time you want your employees treating customers well. At my airline, wages and benefits would be honored and employees would be recognized and compensated for exemplary customer handling.