Another price hike for US carriers

The domestic aviation industry in the United States is struggling to turn over enough profit these days. This has seen a cross-industry attempt to raise prices no less than 5 times this year.

“It’s the industry’s fifth or sixth attempt to increase fares this year. If it succeeds, it would be the year’s first, as prior attempts unraveled within a week after low-cost carriers refused to join in,” said Rick Seaney, chief executive of farecompare.com

Lat week, Continental Airlines was the first to initiate price hikes in 30% of the top US markets by increasing its on-way ticket prices by $5 for tickets purchased in advance and $10 for an last-minute purchases.

This assured that the other major carriers, American Airlines, Northwest Airlines, Us Airways, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines all price-matched.

The fact that the low-cost carriers refused to play ball with man of the attempts has kept prices relatively low.

This latest increase is a small one, says JP Morgan analyst Jaime Baker, “American Airlines raised about 6,000 fares. A typical broad-based increase covers about 300,000 fares.”

So while this marginal increase won’t inspire any street rebellions, it seems the only way airline pricing is going is the way of the planes themselves. Up.

www.continental.com