The airlines and fuel----are they stupid?

[Holy Magenta]

Regardless of the fuel jumps, airlines and aviation will continue in one capacity or another. Yeah our system is energy hungry, and that isn't going to change with China and India looking for western luxury (and they have every right to). Although this raises all kinds of environmental debates and questions, the point is that the global market will demand air travel regardless of the fuel prices. Lets say the sky is falling in, and we are all doomed to fuel shortages from now on. It just means even the pilots may not afford to drive to work...but we will still commute and there will be planes to fly. business requires global travel and quick travel; World business will provide the demand regardless of the supply. There may be a lot less vacation travel, at least for the poor or middle class, but your kidding yourself if you don't believe people will still be flying.

Alternative fuels, bicycles, electric cars, transit, these are all great and very important options, but I'm still gonna be burning a lot of JET fuel at work and going places.

[JAHinYYC]

All I can say is the airlines are idiots if they say they didn't see this coming.

Wow. That's a bit harsh. I work in the oil and gas business and we didn't see it coming either.

Last year we hedged some of our production to guarentee what we thought were some great prices ('cause things looked like they were gonna fall on thier butts) and we lost $10 million dollars on the transaction.

Can I borrow your crystal ball? Better yet, do you want a job forecasting prices with us? I guarentee we pay better than airlines...cause it sounds like you would be way better at it than the guys we have on staff right now...

The analysts have been predicting this since last summer when prices temporarly dove to $0.90 a litre. They have been predicting $150 a barrel for a long time now.

Whoa, you mean you know what analysts are going to be right before they actually are?

Was that the 50% that predicted oil would be US$125/barrel today or the other 50% the predicted it would be US$80?

Do you play Lotto 6/49? Can you pick some numbers for me? I'll put up the $20.

The airlines should have been preparing for this since then...

By preparing, are you speaking about parking older, less efficient aircraft or actively hedging to mitigate commodity price risk?

If it was parking, I am assuming you factored in lost revenue and the cost to layoff crews as against the risk of the price increase in fuel, right?

Or were you thinking about laying off the price risk for the millions of litres of jet fuel you would need to hedge at a price point that was massively offside to the depth of the commodity market? (Think oil is going to $200/barrel in 2009? Try finding someone who wants to take your action in the hedge market for the volumes needed to be meaningful to AC's bottom line.)

[squawk 7600]

less time sitting waiting for gates, GPU availability at all stations, accurate descent profiles, are just a few easy remedies. The consumer will only take a small hit on these fuel hikes, the rest will come from our pay cheques. All i'm saying is we will not be seeing any raises for many years to come.

[small penguin]

No raises in years to come? Is that a problem??

[short bus]

No raises in years to come? Is that a problem??

Are you being serious or are you really that ignorant?

[small penguin]

Here's an idea. Quit the aviation industry, go to law school, and make better money and stop complaining!

[bmc]

I love the level of crystal ball gazing on this thread.

[short bus]

I'm not complaining....

how bouts we freeze your salary at it's present level for the next 10 years and see how long it takes you to start complaining about it. Seriously though, from your posts you sound about 14-15 years old, I doubt you have any experience whatsoever to back up your silly comments on this board. have a nice day.

[small penguin]

Go ahead. Pretend to be my employer for five minutes, freeze my salary. Sure I wont like it. And you know what, maybe rather than going online and complaining about it like you folks do, I'll simply give you the finger, quit the job, and find another employer.

In the tech industry, its easy to do. Granted in the aviation industry, perhaps not (hey, what do I know, Im 14!).

If they entire aviation industry is like that, three options, shut up and take it up the ass, get into another profession, or come on some website and rant and complain about it, all the while achieving nothing but blowing off the day's steam.

*shrugs*

[short bus]

I wish I was more like you and knew the answer to everything.....

You do sound like someone with little life experience though... summarizing everything in little bullet points and telling us all how it is.... reality works a little different though and the answers aren't that simple.... you'll learn this as you grow up.

[sprucemonkey]

My point was more... Why do you fly? Its not for the money. Its because you like to fly. And if its not, quit!

You're there because you like the work, not cause the money is good. Because in fact, its not.

I work where I do because of the money. I make a very good salary for my position. It will most likely not be affected by the downturn either. You have to search and search for the prime position and grab it. Most don't. Chasing aircraft types seems to be the norm. Oh ya, the 14 yr old quote seems like bull. My daughter is 13 and is an A+ student and doesn't think that way yet, no matter what we advise her.

[Bede]

Keep in mind that for every trader that believes oil will be at $200/bbl, there is someone who believes oil will be at $60. If everyone believed oil would be at $200/bbl, oil would be $200/bbl. This is basic expectations theory.

[Expat]

Airlines are blaming fuel costs for their problems, because it makes them look good. The real reasons, however are p*ss por management, which causes losses of customers, and very high levels of debts.

http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?Cont ... 89ec4f89fb&

[bmc]

Airlines are blaming fuel costs for their problems, because it makes them look good. The real reasons, however are p*ss por management, which causes losses of customers, and very high levels of debts.

http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?Cont ... 89ec4f89fb&

Fuel cost IS a problem. ATC charges and delays are a problem. Striking employees area a problem. Low cost competition eroding your traffic base is a problem. Seasonality is a problem..

But I agree. They should fire the whole management team at every airline. All of them. Not needed.

Let pilots run them. Better yet, let the F/a's run them.