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Travelers can expect fewer flights this fall

Airline passengers will see fewer nonstop flights, less convenient travel options and possibly higher ticket prices and fees in the coming months as major carriers embark on big capacity cuts targeted to the fall season for the second year in a row.

Published: Saturday, July 25, 2009 9:03 AM CDT

AATLANTA (AP) - Airline passengers will see fewer nonstop flights, less convenient travel options and possibly

higher ticket prices and fees in the coming months as major carriers make big capacity cuts this fall season for the

second year in a row.

Earnings reports for the April-June quarter this week showed airlines are desperate to raise revenue as they

head into their traditionally slow period.

Six of nine major U.S. airlines reported profits in the quarter, but sales were down for most thanks to weak

demand and lower fares. For seven U.S. airlines and their regional affiliates, the June yield - or average price a

person pays to fly one mile - was almost 19 percent lower than a year earlier, according to the Air Transport

Association.

"I think you're really going to see overall less service, but you'll still have service," said Bob Jordan,

Southwest Airlines Co.'s executive vice president of strategy and planning.

U.S. domestic carriers provided 14.2 billion available seat miles a week in the fourth quarter of 2007. The

figure two years later is expected to drop to 12.4 billion, rivaling post-9/11 numbers, ATA data shows.

The hits coming are broadbased. In the U.S, some parts of the Midwest and leisure points in Florida and Nevada

will see reduced service. Overseas, parts of Europe and Asia will see big cuts.

In most cases, travelers will still be able to get from Point A to Point B, but they may have to take another

carrier or connect through another airport, which means layovers and longer trips. That could be a hard sell for

business travelers who rely on being able to get to their destination at a certain time.

Southwest, for example, among other changes is eliminating service as of Nov. 1 from Columbus, Ohio, to

Philadelphia, and from Oakland, Calif., to Nashville, Tenn.

In St. Louis, American Airlines regional affiliate American Eagle, as of Aug. 25, will end nonstop service to

Charlotte, N.C., Philadelphia, Tulsa, Okla., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Springfield-Branson, Mo. American will

eliminate nonstop service from St. Louis to Las Vegas and San Diego on Nov. 19. American and American Eagle are

units of AMR Corp.

US Airways Group Inc. will cut service between Pittsburgh and San Francisco, and Pittsburgh and Los Angeles,

after Aug. 18. The carrier will suspend daily service from Philadelphia to Milan, Italy; Brussels, Belgium; and

Zurich, Switzerland, this fall, though the service is expected to return in March 2010.

Delta Air Lines Inc. will suspend nonstop service from Atlanta to Seoul, South Korea, and Shanghai, China, and

from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Frankfurt, Germany, and London-Gatwick. JetBlue Airways Corp. is suspending service from

Salt Lake City to San Diego beginning Nov. 1.

Besides cutting routes, airlines are shrinking capacity by reducing flying by day of the week, time of day or by

using smaller planes on certain routes. Southwest is shedding flights before 7 a.m. and after 7 p.m. on some routes.

It's not all bad news. Some airlines, even ones that are cutting overall, are adding service in some places.

AirTran Airways, a unit of AirTran Holdings Inc., is adding service in Milwaukee. Southwest will start flying to and

from Boston and Milwaukee.

The big unknown for travelers is how much extra money they may have to shell out.

Capacity cuts can allow airlines to raise fares because of less competition on some routes and because fewer

flights means the remaining flights should be fuller, giving airlines more pricing power.

But the economy is so weak that airlines have had to offer steep discounts at times just to lure passengers onto

planes during the summer, which is usually a busy time. Executives have offered different views on what fares will

look like this fall, when air travel is usually down but could be more so this year.

Delta President Ed Bastian said this week as the carrier reported a $257 million second-quarter loss that

several recent fare increases by major carriers have been successful, and Delta hopes the industry is gaining some

traction on that.


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