By Kerwin De Matas
Air travel, a luxury, or a necessity...
Travelling from continent to continent for business or pleasure is absurdly common now.
Travelling that would have been be long and uncomfortable by car, train, bus or by any other method known to man, has now been cut down to very short trips by domestic flights.
This form of travel which was adopted by the rich man as a necessity to get from one place to the other quickly or connecting them from one country to the other, has for decades been the average mans’ option of travel also.
In other words; Better ties with family and friends, knowing other countries and expanding small businesses that would have normally stayed that way, has been a major plus for the average man had it not been for the change in the travel industry giving them an opportunity to grow in a dignified way as well.
So what has changed now? Well, Airborne travel was never cheap, but yet it was accessible with affordable credits from the banks, travel agency packages and of course the airlines keeping their fares as low as possible to attract new passengers.
Now I believe that the airlines did more than just lower their fares, but also offered frequent flyer programs, group fares, adoption fares, bereavement fares etc. Yes, the airlines did their part in making airborne travel accessible for all. However, as they say, all good things must end….
The worlds’ climate is changing, and when I say that I do not mean weather, but economic changes.
Events happen, creating a buildup to other events that can be positive or negative. Unfortunately, beginning from the gulf war, which led to the bombardment of the twin Towers in New York, which gave fuel to the Afghanistan war, which finally took the U.S and it's coalition forces to Iraq and of course to the much converted oil fields. These events, which were supposed to create change worldwide, has done just that, except not in the way most people expected. Powerful countries are falling to their knees, giving birth to new world powers (China?). The buildup just got worse when world leaders would just go on feeding words of what they thought were of comfort, telling the masses that everything was okay, when in truth and in fact everything was just getting uncontrollable by the day.
I would get back to that point on another post, what I am trying to concentrate on now is how all of these events would soon threaten airborne travel to the average man as we know it. Petroleum, as a result of all these events, is skyrocketing to record prices by the barrel on a daily basis. The airline industry and every other business that surrounds this industry, heavily depends on this fossil fuel for their survival.
The catering services depend on fuel to provide their meals to the airlines.
The external baggage companies depend on fuel to provide their services.
The airports depends on fuel to aliment the aircrafts, airport security, airport maintenance, administration which in general is expensive and becoming more so, which in the end results in the increases of airport taxes. Therefore, the list goes on.
The airlines in turn need to generate revenue to pay for these services, while at the same time with an obligation to produce profits so that employees could be paid, to maintain their aircrafts, to keep share holders happy and of course to simply exist in an industry that is becoming more and more aggressive and competitive in every way.
Now from what I am seeing and reading, it is becoming increasingly difficult on a daily basis for many airlines, especially the smaller companies, to meet most of those obligations. Most of the smaller airlines that were known for their economic fares, but lousy service ( I mean, what more can you ask for?), are going out of business because of the lack of funds and net loss that is continuously leading to their downfall. It is sad, but that is the reality of what is taking place worldwide.
In the early seventies through to the eighties, the average person could have enjoyed airborne travel which before was only accessible to the rich man. The nineties through to the new century brought changes that would affect the pocket of the average person, but of which accessibility was still present for airborne travel.
In 2008 now, all I can say is that, if the petroleum prices keep going as it is now, airport taxes will just continue to increase, forcing airlines to follow suit by revamping everything within their companies to save cost. This includes merging themselves into each other, decommissioning old aircrafts, using smaller aircrafts on shorter routes, bigger aircrafts on longer routes that will take the majority of passengers to their destination, cutting out routes not gainful to the companies, but tapping into routes that are growing on demand. The goal: To try keeping above water, but to still provide services to passengers looking for cost effective ways of travelling also.
So, the airlines are still trying to do their part, but if costs continue escalating like it is now, eventually the airline industry might return to how it was before, where only the privileged could have gone airborne, making it impossible again for the average man to fly.
Now I work in the airline industry, it still does not make me an expert on certain topics, and of course, I will not go into depth on the changes taking place within the company I work for. Nevertheless, if there are questions, and I can answer them, I will happily do so. I really feel like I can help avoid mistakes made before, but of which are costly now. In this ever changing airline industry, these mistakes have to be avoided, because the cost to reinstall a missed flight, for example, can surely be felt by an average mans' pocket now, or learning to take advantage of the red-eye flights when possible etc.
Therefore, for any comments or questions in English or Spanish, just publish them here, I will be present to do what I can. By the mean time, take care, bless.
