The Luxury Of Air Travel
Jul 16th, 2008 by alyoung
In the early days of air travel, airplane travel was a luxury reserved for the very rich. Over the years airline travel was made available to the common people with air fares becoming more affordable. Bargain airlines sprung up and it was cheaper to fly than drive. Now with the gas prices skyrocketing airline travel may once again become a luxury item.
I was watching a news report on the struggles of the airline industry last week. Fuel now accounts for more than half of an airline’s expense and they are losing money on each flight. The loss ranges from a few hundred dollars per short flights to several thousand on longer cross country flights. Obviously an airline cannot stay in business for long if is losing money on every flight. They need to either increase revenue or reduce expenses or both. Expenses are already being curbed. On a recent flight I was not even given a bag of peanuts. Everything cost money including a meal, pillow or blanket and checking in an extra bag. Some airlines have eliminated the in flight movie system in order to save fuel. Fares are also being raised in order for the airlines to squeeze out a profit on each flight.
We will be taking 2 long drives by car this summer instead of flying. Even with the high price of gas it is still much cheaper than flying especially with a family. Not only are fares rising, there will be less flights as airlines are going out of business and existing airlines reducing their schedule to stop the losses. All these factors means you will soon be paying a lot for the privilege of being packed into a plane like sardines without any snacks. That is if you are the few who can afford the luxury of air travel
