Can you believe what the price of jet fuel has done to the industry over the past few months??

I can. Here is just a few things I could think of off the top of my head:


United stopped hiring
Delta stopped hiring
Continental stopped hiring
Northwest stopped hiring
Expressjet stopped hiring
Skywest stopped hiring
ASA stopped hiring
FedEx stopped hiring
UPS has stopped hiring
Expressjet is offering pilots unpaid leave of absences
United is grounding 15-20 737 aircraft
Delta is grounding 10? mainline aircraft
Northwest is grounding 24 DC-9 aircraft
Regional flying has been cut substantially
Comair, Skywest, Expressjet, ASA, Mesa, and others have had their regional contracted flying hours cut
Aloha Airlines filed for bankruptcy (again)
Skybus cut back almost 50% of their routes
Froniter sold 4 aircraft
Jetblue sold 6 aircraft
Big Sky went out of business
Skyway went out of business
Aloha went out of business
Champion Air went out of business


I am sure I am missing a few things in here. Just goes to show you that $100/barrel oil can really hurt the industry. Just wait until it gets to $130, $150, $200/barrel. The price of oil is only going up and up and up!

Yeah, but the good news is that the oil companies are only making a 10% profit....................... (Funny how that 10% number has been the same even though oil has gone from $50 to over $100 a bbl in the past year. Someone's making money, and it sure ain't us................

While certainly some of those things are attributed to jet fuel costs.....not all.....UPS and FEDEX had already stopped. Frontier had been planning this sale for quite some time and in fact picked up two aircraft for a next drop of only 2. Aloha is probably more directly attributed to GO than jet fuel prices... Skywest is still hiring EMB130 FO's. Northwest had already planned the reduction of DC-9's..... and i am sure there are others. NOT discounting the effects of jet fuel pricing.... but your post just isnt totally correct.

Actually most of the large oil companies are working on about 8% profit.... Just curious Karl.... did you advocate paying MORE for gasoline or jet fuel when the price of oil collapsed in the late 80's and several hundred thousand oil jobs were lost?...... didnt think so. FWIW... you and I agree on alot of things just not this one.

you are correct..but we stopped because we are way overstaffed(200 or so)....we had planned on about 300 retirements in the next 2 years and with the age change all of the sudden crew planning was in a bind....reserve guys fly very little and the company has also said it will not furlough....but we did net almost 400 million last quarter...

It's not the oil companies that are making only a 10% profit. It's the individual gas stations that are. They have their prices raised each time the price of oil increases too, then they raise the price at the pump.
The big oil companies are actually posting record setting profits each year.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/BUSINESS/02/....ap/index.html

As mentioned, age 65 really had an impact on everyones hiring plans. Hundreds who would have retired this year are still working. That changes the hiring needs of everyone.
Prices go up in most sectors, except airline fares of course. Management looks to undercut in suicidal moves, and look, they are successful. Using your logic, ALL airlines will go out of business due to the high cost of oil. do you see that happening? Or perhaps companies like SWA will still be making a profit? Might be a good idea to start an airline soon if I use your logic. <g>

I'm always hearing about how everyone always equates everything to oil is so many dollars per barrel. But what no body ever talks about how the price of fuel has soared to to lack of refining capacity, and that we haven't built a refinery in the U.S. in some 25-30 years.

Actually it is 36 years. Just dont put one in my backyard (NIMBY) is alive and well as EPA oversight, govt regulation and.....

The market determines the price of oil. Exxon takes it out of the ground and sells it at market price. How can anyone fault them? Are you also complaining about the companies that mine gold? The price of gold has gone through the roof too. Do you expect them to sell it cheaper than market price? If Exxon determined the price of oil, then I would say you have a point -- but they don't.

Until supply increases and supply dies off, high oil prices are here to stay.

This is what happens when developing nations become more addicted to oil and we decide to drive big trucks and SUVs. For those who have been over seas, you know that people don't have or drive such things.

-Fatty