I was doing some research for my ABCNews.com column yesterday and pulled some data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (note: population has grown about 25% since 1978 and passengers by 300%).

It shows that after the full implementation of currently announced capacity cuts we will be back to 1997 levels of passengers, effectively losing a decade of growth (unfortunately for smaller cities who will be the hardest hit).

Many airline analysts are predicting even deeper cuts yet to be announced if fuel doesn’t go south quickly (Continental doesn’t think it is dropping any time soon, they are locking in at $120-$140 barrel).

Now if only I could go back to 1997 and leave myself a note not to buy an SUV in 2006 …