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Struggling US airlines cutting back on flights
More and more major airlines are responding to rising fuel costs by cutting back flights, which is both good and bad news for passengers.
American Airlines, for example, says it is canceling about 1,800 flights over the next four months to save fuel.
Delta has also cut flights, reducing its three-non-stops a day Atlanta-to-Tampa route to one daily flight. For a few weeks, Delta had a day-by-day schedule where it cancelled some lightly-traveled routes.
Bankrupt Northwest reduced its late fall schedule and says fourth-quarter domestic capacity would be down perhaps 10% from last year.
“Routes that might have been commercially viable with oil at $40 a barrel are not profitable at $60 per barrel of higher,” said Northwest CEO Doug Steenland.
“Reductions are expected to help struggling carriers survive the leaner winter months by providing a degree of pricing power and stronger revenue performance,” wrote Business Travel News.
That’s good and bad news for air travelers.
Fewer flights will help ease air congestion and relieve operational delays.
But it also means fewer flight options.
In addition, the major airlines will almost certainly have to raise their ticket prices.
The cutbacks could also have an adverse impact on the airlines.
Delta reductions are affecting some of their most loyal customers, wrote the St. Petersburg Times.
The cutbacks also open the door for the low-cost carriers to increase their own market share.
Perhaps because of fewer flights, the airline’s on-time performance in September improved to 84%, 7% higher than the previous month, according to FLightStats.
Report by David Wilkening
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