Holiday Air Travel and Gas Prices
November 30, 2007
Holiday air travel is expected to rise by about 4 percent this year over last year. What else is expected to rise is the cost of tickets for those passengers as jet fuel prices continue to soar as high as the planes themselves.
The price of gasoline has actually lagged behind the current increase in oil prices, but that is not true for jet fuel prices, which have increased by about one-quarter since Labor Day.
With the price of fuel climbing, along with the increase in demand for air travel during the holiday season, which is just beginning, the Air Transport Association is expecting higher passenger costs through higher fees and fuel surcharges.
Recently, United Airlines increased its fares by ten dollars on round-trip fares. This increase was followed by most other airlines including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and Continental Air Lines. These increases were preceded by a series of increases, most in the twenty dollar range, that began in early November as well as some that were introduced in October.
Overseas travelers could be hit even harder. Some published fuel surcharges and ticket prices are as high as twice as much as they were for international travel. The falling value of the US dollar is not helping matters as the weakened greenback gives US companies more pricing leverage when they compete with overseas companies.
Michael Boyd, an airline consultant, has estimated that airline fares are up now by about 6 percent since Labor Day and he also reports that the worse is has not yet arrived. “Average fares will probably go up much more between now and the end of the year than they have up to now,” he said