Top Airlines Rolling Back International Flights

[babylonsister]

Delta, AMR Trim Flights to Avoid ‘Big Empty Planes’ (Update2)
By Mary Jane Credeur and Mary Schlangenstein



March 9 (Bloomberg) -- Delta Air Lines Inc., American Airlines and United Airlines are cutting seats on some routes to London, Tokyo and other overseas business centers by as much as a third in response to plunging international-travel demand.

AMR Corp.’s American chopped seating capacity between Chicago and London’s Heathrow airport by 33 percent, while UAL Corp.’s United cut 25 percent, according to a Bloomberg News analysis of data from schedule-planning service apgDat. Delta dropped a route between Mumbai and New York’s Kennedy airport, and United pared Tokyo-Chicago flying by a third.

The analysis shows how dwindling traffic is forcing the biggest U.S. carriers to unwind some of this decade’s global growth. Because discount competitors don’t fly to Europe and Asia, such flights have typically been more profitable than domestic service.

“International has gone from the bread-and-butter to the weakest part of the business,” said Michael Derchin, an analyst at FTN Midwest Research Securities in New York. “They’re cutting to keep fares from completely collapsing. It would hurt more to fly big empty airplanes over the ocean.”

more...

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aMPlLe97E4CI&refer=us

[WolverineDG]

1. well maybe if they made the fares more reasonable

jeez, a coach seat for $1500? I've been pricing fares for a couple of months now, & they're all coming in over $1000.

dg

[babylonsister]

2. I know 'our' airline is going over to Europe

almost empty. They're next, I imagine.

Someone has to pay the fuel prices.

And I think it's so many people losing jobs, not that they're waiting for the prices to come down.

[WolverineDG]

3. Yes, but the price of fuel has come down

and it's not just the price of the fares. It's all the hassle--TSA nonsense (the 3 ounce rule, no shoes, etc), checked bag fees, carry-on fees, talk to a live person fee, being stuck on the aircraft so the airline can claim an "on time" departure, yet not leaving the ground for hours, not deplaning when inclement weather prevents take off, pay toilets, fee for breathing--it's become a real PITA to fly.

I used to enjoy it, especially "our" airline which is my fave, but now they're starting up the bs that made me shift airlines AND they're still charging top dollar (which I was willing to pay to avoid all the bs). On top of the people losing jobs, I think a lot more are coming up with other ways of traveling or getting business done that doesn't involve getting on an airplane.

dg