Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Airfares Increasing Again


by Cornelius Nunev


In the past few years, rarely is it ever the case that airfares are decreasing. Charges and higher costs of fuel make traveling a more costly proposal annually. A brand new round of airfares increasing has just been documented, as the airlines are at least consistent.

Costs going up again

Fares were increased by United Airlines recently, according to CBS. After that, JetBlue, Virgin and Southwest Air carriers also all increased their base flight prices, according to USA Today. Delta, US Airways and American Airlines also all increased their charges. FareCompare.com explained that United Air carriers raised its rates by $4 to $10 depending on the route. Everyone is apparently increasing rates recently.

There have been seven attempts to increase airfares this year, though this is just the fourth time it has stuck.

Could be worse

Though another $4 to $10 is not enormous, many increases of that much over the course of a year can add up. Last year, fares rose nine times.

Many people will find that it is actually not that bad since air carriers such as Southwest are not increasing charges on flights under 500 miles. Some people could save cash by flying in the off-season too, which is fall since fewer people travel in the fall. Air carriers will cut ticket costs by 10 to 20 percent in the fall typically because it is so sluggish.

Occasionally, a fee is added to the trip that you were not expecting, according to the LA Times, such as airline fuel surcharges. Since April 2011, surcharges have increased 53 percent in spite of the truth that fuel has only increased by 24 percent, according to a study by Cason Wagonlit Travel that showed just how much fuel surcharges are increasing.

However, Airlines for America, the trade group for key air companies in the U.S., notes fuel prices are roughly $3.05 per gallon, compared to $3.00 per gallon in 2010.

Wishing for more earnings

In spite of the fact that airlines make billions of dollars off of additional charges such as baggage charges, you would be surprised to see how much those air carriers really take home after paying all of their own charges. The Huffington Post points out that airline charges are really decreasing right now, and fuel surcharges have to be disclosed under federal laws for ticket costs now.

If you want to be able to fly in the skies, you have to deal with the fuel costs. A 2010 CNN article explained that on average, a flight from Los Angeles to New York was, at the time, about $506.62, and only $33.34 of it was profit, or about 6.6 percent. About $200 goes into labor and fuel costs, $97.85 percent of which goes into fuel. The profit margin decreases to 4.8 percent with a 10 percent increase in fuel costs to $23.67.




About the Author:





You are receiving this because you signed up for it on 2013-09-29 from IP


To fine-tune your selection of which articles to receive, just login here
using your username:


To unsubscribe please use the following link:

Unsubscribe



0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to RSS Feed Follow Business Letter Format on Twitter!