The oil price is a marginal issue. The real issue is recession and the number of passenger miles declining AT ANY ticket price. This is the real issue. The marginal cost implications of kerosene in wing tanks would be no problem if the economy were booming or just doing well. After all, the average easyJet fare is £46. When Gordon Brown invented £10 Airport Duty Tax out of thin air it had the same effect then that a doubling of oil prices would have had. In that year easyJet profits rose, load factor increased and they added 15 additional aircraft.
Its not oil. Its the House Price Crash leading to Recession that is the issue.
Bull!!!!. The real issue has been oil rocketing to $147. That single factor wiped out ryanairs massive profits and caused airlines around the world to go bust. It also caused major US carriers to downsize capacity.
You should be thanking your lucky stars that oil spiked like it has done, because if it hadnt your doom and gloom predictions would be looking pretty stupid at this point. For example Aer Lingus just posted record passenger numbers for July, for the first time in the airlines 72 year history they passed the 1 million monthly passanger mark. The likes of EZ and Ryanair have also reported record numbers. Without the oil crisis airlines would be doing ok. 'The worst conditions in aviation history' has been mainly caused by a massive increase in operating costs, not by reduced passanger numbers.