JetBlue Airways and Alaska Airlines joined American, Continental and Southwest airlines in announcing net profits

for the second quarter, raising hopes of a sustained recovery for the U.S. commercial aviation sector. United Airlines, which has not produced a quarterly profit since 2000 (excluding bankruptcy reorganization items), pre-announced net income of approximately $119 million. "In general, we are seeing an industry--particularly those airlines that have come through bankruptcy--that is more profit-motivated than it has been in a long, long time," said JetBlue CEO David Neeleman. "You have people actually making decisions based on profitability, as opposed to maybe trying to increase their losses so they can get better labor contracts. It was a very perverse situation we found ourselves in."