Will the Airlines at Last Turn a Profit?

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimates that global net airline profits surged to $12.9 billion in 2013, a 74 percent increase from 2012. And 2014 is supposed to be even better. But in a notoriously unstable industry that investors have left for dead at many points throughout its history, all that could change in a heartbeat—for exa…