The major U.S. carriers will post losses of nearly $6 billion in the second quarter – and that's before they get around to their losses from operations.

The carriers are announcing big one-time charges to write down the value of their goodwill and their older airplanes, to get rid of employees and for a number of other reasons.

That's on top of more than $10 billion in write-offs taken in the first quarter, bringing the total to nearly $17 billion for the first six months of 2008.

Most of the items don't involve cash – only changes to the airlines' balance sheets. But it's an indication of how the fortunes of airlines have sunk so quickly.

"The fact that they're noncash means it's not going to affect their liquidity situation," said Richard Gritta, management professor at the University of Portland in Oregon. "They're trying to get the worst out as fast as they can, so when things start to go right, they don't have to worry about these charges depressing their earnings any more."

However, the whole U.S. airline industry with few exceptions "is in such a mess that I don't think it makes any difference," Dr. Gritta said.

Some of the biggest charges involved the writing off of goodwill, an intangible asset, by Delta Airlines Inc.,; UAL Corp., parent of United Airlines Inc.; and US Airways Group Inc.

Both carried large amounts of goodwill on their balance sheets as they exited from bankruptcy court protection and, in the case of US Airways, into a merger with America West Holdings Corp.

On Wednesday, Delta said it was taking a $1.2 billion charge, mostly related to a write-down in goodwill on top of a $6.1 billion goodwill charge in the first quarter.

UAL has said it will write off $2.2 billion to $2.3 billion in goodwill, and US Airways has said it will write off $622 million. Northwest Airlines Corp. in the first quarter wrote off $3.92 billion in goodwill it left on their books when it exited bankruptcy protection in May 2007.

AMR Corp., parent of American Airlines Inc., said today its second-quarter earnings included a $1.63 billion charge. Most of the \charge is tied to the lower values it now carries on its books for its fleet of 300 McDonnell Douglas MD-80 airplanes, which are less fuel-efficient than newer airplanes, and its fleet of its smallest regional jets, the Embraer ERJ-135.

AMR reported a net loss of $1.45 billion. Excluding the special charges, the company lost $284 million, a smaller loss than analyst had expected.

Virginia Commonwealth University economics professor George Hoffer said the special items are a final recognition that things are not as they were and that the airlines are making irreversible changes.

"I see this as a ratification of what they have been announcing for the past six or eight months," Dr. Hoffer said. "This puts it in concrete: We're going to really have a much different airline industry. The structure is going to be different. Its size is going to be different."