With Skybus, ATA & Aloha all going under within the last week or so, I'm wondering how fares on the other airlines might be affected. Any pundits or guesses?

I can't decide whether fares will go down as airlines try to recoup their fueling costs and try to fly with full planes, or fares will increase since there are fewer players offering seats.

I know flights from Ohio, Indy and Hawaii may see the most differences, but since soaring fuel costs was a big factor in those airlines, it must be affecting the other big/other airlines as well.

I know this board has a lot of posters who pay close attn to the airlines and fly a lot so I thought some here might have an opinion.

I'm curious since I was waiting to book my remaining 3 trips for this year (2 summer, 1 fall) in hopes of a summer seat sale - one that now may not materialize.

Enjoy-la!

Those three airlines only constitute a very small percentage of total capacity in the market, so effect will be small except in the intra-Hawaii and Columbus/Greesnboro markets. I don't even see HI-mainland fares to rise that much as there are still lots of seats out there, and with the economy going sour, demand to HI will decrease as well.

Just saw Hawaiian to launch daily 767 into Oakland from May 1st.

As the gas prices move upward, seemingly on a daily basis and estimates that we'll all be paying $4/gallon by the end of May, I assume that airlines will similarly be faced with sky-rocketing (yeah, bad pun) costs.

I can't see airlines offering great summer sales when their operating costs are on the rise.

<i>I can't see airlines offering great summer sales when their operating costs are on the rise.</i>

There are precious few industries where opex drives pricing, and the airline industry is not one of them. Pricing is driven by supply and demand.

As noted above, none of the carriers here offered enough supply to change that side of the equation. So, the only question is what will happen to demand. I think that, if we see any downward movement in demand (which I think is likely if we get into a prolonged or deep recession), then prices will fall, not rise.

Of course, the above is not good for the airlines, who are seeing their costs rise without any control over pricing. But, that is why the airlines don't make money consistently.