Largest US carriers raise ticket prices

After increasing fuel surcharges earlier this year, the three largest airlines based in the United States announced that they would hike ticket prices by as much as $20. Delta Air Lines, United and American Airlines all announced new increases to the fuel surcharge added to all tickets, which may mean that in some cases, the extra fees will end up costing more than the actual basic ticket price. On many domestic US routes, the fuel surcharge is already above $130 on round-trip airfare. Delta was the first to announce yet another fuel fee hike, which happens to be the second that the airline initiates in less than two weeks. American Airlines and United rapidly followed the lead.

It is estimated that the price of fuel on the world market is almost 78 percent more expensive than it was one year ago. As such, all airlines are feeling the crunch and a string of discount carriers have already gone out of business in the US over the course of the past two months, because they could not find a way to cope with increasing jet fuel expenses and the looming recession.

Most major airlines now point out that fuel is their single greatest expense and if projections hold, this problem will only intensify over the summer months, when some predict that the price of oil will surpass $1.50 per barrel on the world market. US airlines have tried to respond to this challenge by further cost-cutting, raising fuel surcharges and also by pondering mergers with other carriers.

www.delta.com