How bad is the current economic climate for airlines? Well, assuming your number one priority as an airline, is to make money, then it is pretty safe to say that things royally suck.
Virgin Atlantic chief executive Steve Ridgway says that a combination of low fares, high fuel prices and reduced passenger numbers will prevent any of the world’s major airlines from earning a single penny in 2009.
This is not the news that they’ll make a little less, or that only some airlines will suffer, apparently nobody is going to have a good year.
This bad news has already forced some airlines to ditch their first class service on some routes, and others to ground planes awaiting better times.
What this means to us travelers is probably not going to make the airlines any happier either – raising prices won’t help them, so they’ll most likely be forced to keep the low fares coming.
Some airlines (like Virgin Atlantic) are hurting, but were smart enough to see this coming, and were able to take some precautions. The airline slowed down orders for new planes, and took some profitable gambles on fuel prices. Their actions have paid off – sales at the Virgin group actually increased by 8.4%, none of which will mean much if there is no profit left. Still, it beats the $640 Million in losses British Airways suffered.