t’s tough not to appreciate the irony in this week’s offerings from MarketWatch. On Feb 26th Chuck Jaffe wrote his weekly “Stupid Investment of the Week” column only to be followed on Mar 1st by John Spence’s column about an exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) benchmarked to the airline industry – Claymore/NYSE Arca Airline ETF.

The offering invests in global airline stocks although heavily concentrated in US-based companies – about 76% of assets. Top five holdings include Delta, AMR, Southwest, USAir and United.

Well dear friends at MarketWatch if there’s a stupid investment to be had it’s the airline sector. Don’t take our word for it. How about these folks?

David G. Neelman of JetBlue Airlines (BusinessWeek – May 1999)

“People who invest in aviation are the biggest suckers in the world.”

Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway (annual shareholder letter – Feb 2009)

“The worst sort of business is one that grows rapidly, requires significant capital to engender the growth and then earns little or no money. Think airlines. Here a durable competitive advantage has proven elusive ever since the days of the Wright Brothers. Indeed if a farsighted capitalist had been present at Kitty Hawk he would have done his successors a huge favor by shooting Orville down.”

Our favorite? It’s Sir Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic Airways who snidely but accurately pointed out the best way to have a million dollars is to start an airline with a billion dollars!

Kudos to you MarketWatch. You have provided yourself with content for your next “Stupid Investment of the Week” column.