It’s been confirmed; due to rising fuel prices, the airline industry is starting to go belly up. Acquisitions, mergers, downsizing, cutting routes, grounding planes and raising ticket prices are insufficient measures to deal with the enormity of the situation and prolonged, permanent high fuel costs.
Something has got to give, and it will come in two phases: bankruptcy, and dwindling numbers of worldwide air passengers. With or without government backing, bankruptcy will take its toll. Availability of routes and planes along with substantially higher ticket prices will force air travelers to re-think the way they travel, as well as the frequency of traveling.
Luckily, there are other transportation infrastructures available which are both more eco-friendly as well as carrying more passengers per unit of fuel. Basically, this refers to buses and trains.
Every city should now be actively upgrading and promoting the use of mass transit, converting trains and buses to alternative fuels, and planning for a future when public tranportation will be the only way to travel (bye bye the private automobile).
What people have taken for granted will become a luxury; cheap airfares and weekend getaways, single occupancy vehicles (not including motorbikes, scooters, Segways, and bicycles), and the phenomena of ‘travel on demand’.
Ted Ollikkala
Read more:
http://money.cnn.com/2008/07/15/news/economy/airlines/index.htm
http://www.newsweek.com/id/147684
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/11/business/10transit.php
