Fellow Pilots,
As much as I dislike Government interference in our affairs, private or public, I feel that the time has come for re-regulation of portions of the the US Domestic Airline Industry in regards to fuel cost's, associated overhead, tax relief and domestic ticket pricing.
For the past 7 years the traveling public has enjoyed less than cost airfares subsidized with the pay, benefits and retirements of airline employees. This has to stop. With the continued weakening of the US Dollar and subsequent increase in the cost of Oil and Fuel the liquidity of all US Air Carriers is in jeopardy. There is nothing left to cut. Wages are at a 30 year low (when adjusted for inflation we make less than we did in 1978), our medical benefits are a fraction of what they used to be and we've lost our retirement.
Everything has been outsourced to low bid contract workers, reservations, maintenance, cleaners, rampers and the list goes on. Again, there is nothing left to cut. If something isn't done and done by the end of this fiscal year I predict that several more US Carriers will liquidate, one of them possibly a Major Carrier.
What am I proposing? Partial re-regulation of the Domestic US Market. It should be illegal to sell a seat on a segment for less than the cost of providing the service. Airlines should not be shouldered with an insane tax code that puts us into the red while the oil company's that are supplying the fuel post record profits.
1. The minimum ticket price per segment should be based on actual operating cost + fuel.
This would be determined by using the US weekly average on highway costs of gasoline
multiplied by the average mileage per car multiplied by distance. For example: FLL to
SEA is 3250 miles/25mpg x $3.55 per gallon: $461 base price JUST for fuel, CASM
(Cost per seat mile) excluding fuel, per airline (as reported in quarterly filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission) would be added to the minimum fuel charge.
Airlines would continue to be able to compete on a cost and competitive basis but fuel
would be taken OUT of the equation.
2. Tax Relief: The Airline industry should be treated NO different that the Surface
Transportation Industry. The related fuel-surcharges should not be treated as revenue
for tax purposes. The fuel surcharge above and beyond a base rate of $1.12 per gallon
should be excluded: Which is the same that the Trucking Industry currently enjoys and
has for years.
If something isn't done to correct the situation eventually market forces will prevail in the
failure of additional airlines. It is my personal belief that Frontier Airlines will not emerge
from Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. I also believe that there will be more to follow. Eventually the market will correct itself but at what cost? The system is already running at full capacity and is straining at every seam. If something, possibly such as I am proposing, isn't done about the problem the cost's to the Industry will be insurmountable and the US consumer will feel the pain that will be exponentially higher than that of which I am proposing. Initially load factors would drop as the consumer adjusts to paying $1500 for a round-trip coast to coast ticket, but the higher fair would enable the carriers to post a profit with a MUCH lower load factor. The US consumer has adjusted quite easily to $3+ per gallon fuel, $4 per gallon milk,$3 per loaf of bread and $400,000 homes: They will adjust to increased airfares as well.
If you agree with me on some of my ideas, all of them or disagree...I encourage you to write me back for discussion. Please feel free to forward this to all Industry types on your personal email list. I will be forwarding it to my US Congressmen, my MEC, ALPA and I STRONGLY encourage you to do the same.
Fly Safe!
As much as I dislike Government interference in our affairs, private or public, I feel that the time has come for re-regulation of portions of the the US Domestic Airline Industry in regards to fuel cost's, associated overhead, tax relief and domestic ticket pricing.
For the past 7 years the traveling public has enjoyed less than cost airfares subsidized with the pay, benefits and retirements of airline employees. This has to stop. With the continued weakening of the US Dollar and subsequent increase in the cost of Oil and Fuel the liquidity of all US Air Carriers is in jeopardy. There is nothing left to cut. Wages are at a 30 year low (when adjusted for inflation we make less than we did in 1978), our medical benefits are a fraction of what they used to be and we've lost our retirement.
Everything has been outsourced to low bid contract workers, reservations, maintenance, cleaners, rampers and the list goes on. Again, there is nothing left to cut. If something isn't done and done by the end of this fiscal year I predict that several more US Carriers will liquidate, one of them possibly a Major Carrier.
What am I proposing? Partial re-regulation of the Domestic US Market. It should be illegal to sell a seat on a segment for less than the cost of providing the service. Airlines should not be shouldered with an insane tax code that puts us into the red while the oil company's that are supplying the fuel post record profits.
1. The minimum ticket price per segment should be based on actual operating cost + fuel.
This would be determined by using the US weekly average on highway costs of gasoline
multiplied by the average mileage per car multiplied by distance. For example: FLL to
SEA is 3250 miles/25mpg x $3.55 per gallon: $461 base price JUST for fuel, CASM
(Cost per seat mile) excluding fuel, per airline (as reported in quarterly filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission) would be added to the minimum fuel charge.
Airlines would continue to be able to compete on a cost and competitive basis but fuel
would be taken OUT of the equation.
2. Tax Relief: The Airline industry should be treated NO different that the Surface
Transportation Industry. The related fuel-surcharges should not be treated as revenue
for tax purposes. The fuel surcharge above and beyond a base rate of $1.12 per gallon
should be excluded: Which is the same that the Trucking Industry currently enjoys and
has for years.
If something isn't done to correct the situation eventually market forces will prevail in the
failure of additional airlines. It is my personal belief that Frontier Airlines will not emerge
from Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. I also believe that there will be more to follow. Eventually the market will correct itself but at what cost? The system is already running at full capacity and is straining at every seam. If something, possibly such as I am proposing, isn't done about the problem the cost's to the Industry will be insurmountable and the US consumer will feel the pain that will be exponentially higher than that of which I am proposing. Initially load factors would drop as the consumer adjusts to paying $1500 for a round-trip coast to coast ticket, but the higher fair would enable the carriers to post a profit with a MUCH lower load factor. The US consumer has adjusted quite easily to $3+ per gallon fuel, $4 per gallon milk,$3 per loaf of bread and $400,000 homes: They will adjust to increased airfares as well.
If you agree with me on some of my ideas, all of them or disagree...I encourage you to write me back for discussion. Please feel free to forward this to all Industry types on your personal email list. I will be forwarding it to my US Congressmen, my MEC, ALPA and I STRONGLY encourage you to do the same.
Fly Safe!
Run that puppy by a high school graduate before forwarding to anyone. 
