Flight Cuts

A Downside of Cheap Fares: Flight Cuts

Source: Yahoo.com Author: Scott McCartney Date: October 3, 2008

Excerpt:

Cheap fares stimulated tons of travel over the past 20 years, but now airlines are slashing schedules in markets where cheap fares dominate. Communities that have enjoyed fierce airline competition now are paying a price in higher fares and fewer flights, while cities where one airline has a fortress hub are seeing far smaller schedule cuts.

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Talking points

Do you travel by airplane very much?

Have you noticed an increase in airfares recently?

Will you be limiting your airline travel in the near future?

Airlines may have to raise ticket prices because of the economic situtation (rising cost of fuel and labor).

How do you think airlines can keep customers and maintain a profit?

Does it make sense for airlines to cut non-profitable routes and flights?

What would you do if you were an executive of a major airline? How would you cope with the economic situation?

Vocabulary from this article:

grounded

passenger

vanguard

trim(ming)

stimulate(d)

aviation

implication

track(s)

domestic

terminal

reduction

carrier

fare

slash(ing)

dominate

fortress

hub

capacity

eliminate(-ing)

destination

downturn

surge

diminish

fleet

region(al)

disproportionately

aggresive(ly)

pullback(s)

rebound

exponential(ly)

Expressions

ride the wave

in essence

scale(-ing) back

major player(s)

be headed (to)

fierce competition

out of service