US air travellers set for turbulent flight

All those travelling by air in the United States had best buckle up for turbulent flights, as airlines get ready to cut routes and remaining services, according to USA Today. The daily newspaper found that some of the most popular holiday destinations are the ones that are likely to be cut from the schedules of several airlines, including the likes of Honolulu (Hawaii), Orlando and Las Vegas. Although many travellers choose to fly to these destinations during their vacation, the problem has been that they have become accustomed to inexpensive tickets. Yet these low airfares no longer allow airlines to remain profitable on these routes due to $130 oil, while raising prices would probably discourage leisurely travellers from flying. As such, the only remain option is to cut capacity and service on these routes.

Passengers will probably not notice much of a difference if they regularly fly out of major US airport, such as New York LaGuardia, Dallas-Fort Worth or Chicago-O’Hare. The problems, however, will begin if they try to fly from secondary hubs, or airports located in medium-sized cities, situated in close proximity to even larger urban centres. For example, USA Today has discovered that the number of flights from the Oakland airport-located near San Francisco-will decline by around one fifth. This will hit budget travellers especially hard, who have relied on discount flights operating from this hub, and many other such airports in the US. Airline industry analysts predict that regional and small town airports will be especially hard hit; some of them are expected to lose up to a third of their flights.