American Airlines loses $3.3 million a day. Delta hikes airfares.

[phantom power]

American Airlines loses $3.3 million a day

In the past month Arpey, 49, has dealt with picketing pilots calling for his resignation, FAA inspectors decertifying 300 aircraft, the merger of two large competitors, and $110-a-barrel oil that contributed to a $328 million loss for the first quarter. Since January, nearly every flight the airline has flown has lost money - analysts estimate it is losing $3.3 million a day.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/28/magazines/fortune/gimbel_american.fortune/index.htm

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Delta hikes airfares

ATLANTA (AP) -- Travelers aren't just feeling the pinch at the gas pump, but also in the air as carriers continue to hike fares to deal with high jet fuel prices.

Delta Air Lines Inc., (DAL, Fortune 500) the nation's third-largest carrier, said Monday it raised domestic fares in most cases $10 to $40 per roundtrip, in the form of a fuel surcharge.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/29/news/companies/delta_fares.ap/index.htm?postversion=2008042908

[Zachstar]

1. It is a good thing that networked meetings are becoming more popular.

Who wants to fly across the nation when you can use a laptop and save the earth tons of CO2? Granted it is less human but we got a serious problem due to climate change and anything to slow it down is nice.

[deadmessengers]

2. There is no substitute for face-time.

You can do video conferencing, you can do web meetings, you can do conference calls, and all of those things are useful tools, but there really is no substitute for in-person interaction with other people. I travel pretty extensively for my job, and while I wish I didn't have to fly as much as I do (for the reasons you state above), it really is necessary most of the time.

[Zachstar]

3. Will it be nessesary if the fuel subcharge gets another 50 dollars added to it?

Sorry but no. With the link between combustion products and global warming there is every substitute for keeping these aircraft in the air.

Anything other than long range and high efficiency flights need to be considered to be an aspect that needs to be toned down.

777
747
A380s

Need to dominate the skies not MD-80s 717s 737-200s and other smaller airliners.

[deadmessengers]

5. 50 bucks is a drop in the bucket for business travelers

I (my employer, actually) just paid $1300 for a 2-hour roundtrip flight from Atlanta to Austin - in coach, BTW. Another 50 bucks wouldn't have affected that decision. 500 might have, but not $50.

I do agree with everything you're saying that we should be flying less, and that longer-range higher-density flights need to become the norm here. But, on the other hand, you're not going to see the culture of business change overnight. If paying a couple of grand for someone to fly across the country increases the chance of closing a deal that could be worth nine figures, no one is going to bat an eyelash at doing that.

[Zachstar]

6. Buisness figures while the climate changes.

Well atleast the older fuel hogs are being replaced and the A380 is getting one hell of a market set up for it.

[excess_3]

4. welcome news n/t