JetBlue shares closed Tuesday at $2.91, and on Wednesday United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby was asked whether he might buy the airline that still has to finance a turnaround while losing money.

Bankruptcy is a real possibility, though their debt wall still gives them some time and they have cash. They have valuable assets, passengers and they’re working on improvements.

What Their Falling Stock Price Tells Us

On this week’s Airlines Confidential , Scott McCartney discussed JetBlue’s falling shares, describing a $2 stock price as a rough warning level drawn from his years covering companies:

“a stock dropping quickly to $2 is historically a sign of trouble”

He twice qualified that share price alone isn’t a reliable bankruptcy predictor, and explained why JetBlue is in a stronger position than Spirit was.

However, Research by John Campbell, Jens Hilscher and Jan Szilagyi finds that low share prices add information when predicting corporate failure, along with past stock declines, volatility, leverage,…