Bargain plane tickets are already pretty hard to get, and now, they\u2019re only going to get more scarce as airlines scramble to deal with increased fuel costs nearing record highs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Executives at American Airlines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines this week said they\u2019re rethinking their least-profitable routes as jet fuel climbs to $4.71 per gallon, more than double the cost a year ago and near a 20-year high.Now, they\u2019re considering cutting some low-performing routes in an effort to cut down on costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re just going to want to pull a little capacity out when we see a rise in fuel like we\u2019re seeing right now,\u201d American Airlines CFO Devon May said at Morgan Stanley\u2019s annual Laguna Conference on Sept. 16, adding the fuel spike has added $1 billion to the company\u2019s projected fourth-quarter expenses, prompting it to cut some December flights and plan for less growth next year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
May was far from the only airline executive to sound similar alarms at the conference. He was joined by Southwest CFO Tom Doxey, who said the company began projecting the year it would add 2-3% to flight capacity, but has since cut that projection in half, \u201cbecause fuel has been higher.\u201d<\/p>\n
United CFO Mike Leskinen was also in attendance. He told analysts every airline has its \u201cbell curve of profitability\u201d and some routes make more money than others. As fuel costs rise, maintaining the flights near the bottom of that curve stops making financial sense, which is why United will have fewer flights in December and could make further cuts next year if costs stay high.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s some marginal routes that don\u2019t make sense in a higher fuel environment, so we cut them,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re flying to maximize profitability and free cash generation, so we\u2019ll make those adjustments.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leskinen noted 35% of United\u2019s fourth-quarter tickets were already booked\u2014so the airline can\u2019t retroactively hike those prices\u2014but he said there\u2019s room to pass on higher fuel costs to consumers eventually.<\/p>\n
\u201cJet fuel price gets passed through with a lag,\u201d he said. All three carriers (in addition to almost every player in the airline industry) have raised checked bag fees as a way to offset costs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
United and American declined to share the number of flights they cut. A Southwest spokesperson told Fortune<\/em> its flight schedule adjustments were \u201cvery minimal\u201d and do not affect \u201clarge scale exits of routes or airports.\u201d<\/p>\nThe effects of the jet fuel crisis<\/strong><\/h2>\nIt\u2019s bad news for travelers making plans to visit back home. Less routes would mean fewer flight choices to pick from, and could mean fewer convenient times to fly out or having to opt for a layover instead of a nonstop trip.\u00a0<\/p>\n
War in Iran has choked off the global supply of oil, which hit jet fuel particularly hard, sending the price soaring\u00a0 and leaving the airline industry to eat most of the costs. United and American spent about $8.2 billion and $7.8 billion respectively on fuel in the first six months of this year, both up almost 49% from a year earlier, according to their latest filings. Southwest spent nearly $3.6 billion, up about 39%.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now that airlines are cutting flights, this could also make bargain prices harder to come by for American travelers who are already paying more to fly. Fares are 23.4% higher in August than a year earlier, compared to a 3.4% increase in overall consumer prices, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jet fuel costs have also squeezed airlines across the Atlantic Ocean. The Iran fuel shock slammed Europe, which is more dependent on Middle Eastern oil than the U.S., and took a toll on one of its largest budget airlines, Ryanair. The carrier cut its full-year passenger forecast this month from 216 million to 214 million. CEO Michael O\u2019Leary warned oil prices could hike up Ryanair\u2019s famously cheap European flights.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
#American #United #Southwest #cutting #marginal #routes #jet #fuel #prices #spike<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bargain plane tickets are alre… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4886,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[353,1207,7943,2335,456,6401,7944,597,5733,6631,1293,1460],"class_list":["post-4885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance-news","tag-airline-industry","tag-american","tag-cutting","tag-fuel","tag-iran","tag-jet","tag-marginal","tag-prices","tag-routes","tag-southwest","tag-spike","tag-united"],"yoast_head":"\n
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