RickSeaney.com

Search

Search Past Articles:

Categories

Archives

  • Blogroll

    • September 24, 2008

    NO TIME for My ABCNews.com Column? Here’s the QUICK VERSION

    Filed under: ABC News — Rick Seaney @ 9:18 am

    Rags to riches? The airlines? Even though Wall St. is in meltdown-mode?

    Could happen.

    In my latest column for ABCNews.com, I talk about how the still volatile oil market (after a nice, long downturn, prices rose sharply Monday) is literally pushing airlines into profitability - and here’s how:

    • New Airline Fees -Northwest alone now collects bag fees of almost half-a-million dollars a day
    • Airfare Hikes — almost one a week in the first half of this year
    • Fuel Surcharges - averaging $67 roundtrip domestically, $349 roundtrip trans-oceanic travel
    • Capacity Cuts — 70 million fewer seats in 2009.
    • Award Programs — watered-down benefits

    But one thing that can’t be predicted is the price of oil; just ask United - it tried to play the “hedging game” earlier this year - the game Southwest excels in - and the legacy carrier lost a bundle.

    Bottom line: who pays? Let’s see - new fees, hikes, fuel surcharges, worsening awards programs - I guess that would be, you and me. On the other hand - at least we still have an airline industry - one that’s alive and kicking.
    « GeorgiaSkies: New Airline Enters the Fray (UPDATED)   UPDATE: Remember those “Sleeping Pilots”? They’re Free to Fly Again »

    No Comments »

    No comments yet.

    RSS feed for comments on this post. | TrackBack URI

    Leave a comment

    XHTML ( You can use these tags): <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong> .