Increased Airline Costs — Fuel Costs

by BWK ~ January 25, 2008

One of these days, you will have to buy two airline tickets. One will be for the seat on the airplane. The other ticket may remain open on the books until the time of departure — and incur a charge to pay for the fuel to make the aircraft fly. At $100 and more per barrel for oil, the rising cost of fuel is no longer a risk that tthe airlines can afford to internalize and shoulder entirely.

In the short run, rising fuel costs mean that airlines are doing more than just offering cheaper pretzel snacks. Airlines are eliminating low-profit routes and grounding their less fuel efficient planes. For those aircraft that do fly, the airlines are eliminating weight by reducing everything non-essential to safe transit, down to “excess” bottles of water. Airlines are altering flight routes and procedures to make for better overall fuel burn. Some aircraft are being towed from gates to ramp areas before engine start, to save that otherwise wasted fuel. But still, at the end of the day, oil and fuel prices are rising faster than airlines can find ways to cut costs.

Eventually, the burden of fuel costs will have to shift to the ultimate consumer, the passenger. You want to fly? You have to pay.

BWK

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2008-01-03-flier-fees_N.htm