Fliers in for pain as airlines pack it in

[straitman]

Quite interesting. A sign of things to come maybe.

Fliers in for pain as airlines pack it in - USATODAY.com

 

[albatross710]

I was thinking similar thougths last week when Qantas dropped some routes. They were probably low yield routes, a few people would be inconvenienced but if they are loosing $$ on the route, easy decisions to make.

 

[JohnK]

Not a good time for airlines and even worse if you are a customer.

As one of the comments in the article mentioned it is time to get back to basics. No need to fly half way round the world or even half way round the country for a 1 hour meeting. Save money by using conference calls or even video conferencing, go back to train travel.

I think we need to face the fact that oil prices are not going to go back to the levels they were a few years ago. Assuming the biggest issue is oil speculators the bubble will burst eventually but by how much? I think the days of cheap crude oil are over.

 

[oz_mark]

On the plus side, oil has come back to around US$122 a barrel in the last week or so. Talking to a few people who think about $50 of the current price is hedge fund driven.