Originally Posted by
Superpilot92
Hopefully since oil is getting this expensive the time will finally come that we find a replacement. In the past oil was so cheap we didn't need to look for an alternative, times are changing. Nothing would be greater than the day an alternative is found and the Oil companies start freaking out because their precious strong holds are no more.
I was listening to a contrarian point of view yesterday and the individual suggested that because of a very expensive operation (just west of Iran) the US government actually benefits from expensive oil. The argument was that the tax rate on Gas and similar oil products is at round %30. So, higher prices yield higher gross revenue from taxes according to him.
At any rate the benefit of pay for departure changes significantly when variable costs change (oil). It will be interesting to see how airlines deal with the increased costs.