If that's not clear enough: "There is no imminent risk. We have thankfully done a good job of generating cash and saving it," Parker said.
Parker, 46, was in Philadelphia Friday and met with the Inquirer's Editorial Board before flying to headquarters in Tempe, Ariz.
He acknowledged his industry is in a fight for survival. All major U.S. airlines are losing billions to soaring fuel, wiping out profits, and forcing aggressive cost cuts and flights.
"These are desperate times for the airline industry," Parker said.
Airlines are so desperate about oil that 12 CEOs signed an open letter to their customers recently, enlisting them to pressure Congress to reform the oil markets and regulate market speculation.
"You can call it desperate, but it's working," said Parker, who lobbied lawmakers on Capitol Hill last week to stop "speculators" from driving up the cost of oil.
He said members of Congress were receptive and want to fix the problem, although there is debate over how to do it.
If oil prices don't go lower, here's what Parker said travelers and airlines can expect:
Airlines will start collecting $650 to $700 per passenger for a ticket. Planes will fly primarily to big cities, and not a lot of small communities. There will be many fewer flights. Air travel will be a throwback to the era before deregulation. Flying will be a luxury.
"It will have a huge impact upon our economy and upon the way Americans live. It's going to be that severe," said Parker, who had been CEO of America West, which in 2005 merged with US Airways.
"I've worked in the airline business 22 years. This is by far the worst economic crisis this industry has faced."
Just one year ago, US Airways was concentrating on baggage problems and on-time performance of flights in Philadelphia and elsewhere. But those operational problems, which have greatly improved, he said, pale when compared with what oil is doing to airline economics.
