Airfares Up

A study by American Express concluded short haul airfares will increase by up to 1% in 2004, while long haul fares will up even more, 4% or so. The company said fares stayed down this year because of the combined impacts of Sars, the war in Iraq, rising oil prices and terrorism. Fares will go up because of increased demand for air travel. The study found Europe to be the only region where economy and domestic fares should go down next year. The reason was attributed to no-frills carriers, about a dozen of which captured almost a third of the market share in Europe. That number is expected to continue to go up.