Good question, and so far, the answer is “NO!”  There are all sorts of questions about this issue and they all lead to trying to figure out what is going to happen with the airlines.  Many of us thought that when the fuel crisis eased a bit, we might be able to run off on a short, quick vacation because it would be affordable for a minute or two.  Those of us who thought that were apparently wrong.

According to numerous statements by numerous airlines in answer to all the questions about what will happen to fares in the wake of fuel prices that are falling, the airlines cannot afford to lower fares.

Here’s how it theoretically works.  David Castelveter spokesman for the Air Transport Association has explained that because the fuel prices were so high and kept the airline companies way over budget most of this year up until a few weeks ago, the airlines are still struggling to catch up because they are still in the hole.

Castelveter stated that “you don’t recover from multi-billion dollar increases in your fuel bill in a few weeks.  The carriers are on line to lose $5 billion this year.”  Part of the reason for this is that they were slow to react to rising fuel prices and once they did react, they acted slowly and cautiously trying to save money for customers in order to keep people traveling, and also hoping that fuel prices would level off or go back down sooner than they did.

There are still some good deals to be found, especially if you live in an area that is served by Southwest Airlines or other airlines that are known for their low cost flights.  Overall, however, air fares have increased 20% to 40% depending upon the airport, where you are traveling and how far in advance you book a flight.  In addition higher and more taxes and fees, and fees for baggage (how can you be expected to pay for your one and only suitcase?).

The airlines are simply trying to survive.  They have cut down on the number of flights they offer so that they can save money flying half-empty planes by consolidating more passengers to fill up fewer flights. 

The Air Transport Association and some of the airlines feel that once everything levels out, the fuel crisis eases and the economy becomes balanced, we can look for some gradual decreases in fares.  Until then, all we can do is wait.

Tags: Air Transport Association, airlines, fuel costs, fuel crisis, high fuel prices, lower fares

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 at 3:53 pm and is filed under Gas Prices. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.