In mid-2008, the price of oil among airlines biggest expenses skyrocketed to record levels, forcing

Travelers who have experienced the industry cheap car rental in hawaii s dramatic cheap car rental in hawaii downsizing in the past five years may not agree. The unprecedented shrinking was brought on by sky-high fuel prices, the recession and other airline mergers.
In Phoenix, passengers spoiled for years by a glut of flights from US Airways, Southwest Airlines and other carriers offerings that meant cheap flights on the half-hour to Las Vegas and Southern California and cross-country tickets for $300 or less now find higher fares, cheap car rental in hawaii packed planes and significantly fewer flights and non-stop destinations.
Sky Harbor cheap car rental in hawaii International Airport did not lose an airline hub, as some airports did, and still has a strong cheap car rental in hawaii lineup of flights. But the cutbacks hit it harder cheap car rental in hawaii than other major airports by some measures. It is struggling to return to pre-recession passenger-traffic levels and maintain its ranking as the country s 10th-busiest airport.
Eliminated nearly one out of every five flights. The 19.4 percent decline in flights translates to more than 800 fewer flights per week and more than 100 fewer flights per day, according to Innovata, an international travel-data firm. Among the nation s 10 busiest airports, only McCarran International in Las Vegas lost more flights 20.3 percent and it lost a US Airways hub during the period. Nationally, the number of flights fell 14.5 percent at all airports. Phoenix lost more airline service cheap car rental in hawaii than Las Vegas by another measure: seat capacity. Airlines at Sky Harbor had 17.3 percent few seats for sale in September than they did in September 2007, vs. a 13.7 percent decline in Las Vegas and 9.6 percent nationally, according to Innovata.
Trimmed international service. The number of weekly international flights out of Phoenix, already small for a city this size, fell from 145 to 132, a decline of 9 percent, according to Innovata. In contrast, airlines have been adding international service in other cities, helping cheap car rental in hawaii to offset nearly universal cutbacks in domestic cheap car rental in hawaii flights. Charlotte, N.C., another US Airways hub, saw weekly international flights increase 41 percent in the period as the airline has added more flights. The industry average was a gain of 3 percent.
Cut non-stop service cheap car rental in hawaii to 17 destinations. The cities include Cincinnati; Memphis, Tenn.; Hartford, Conn.; Providence, R.I.; and Manchester, N.H., as well as smaller cheap car rental in hawaii destinations., according to Innovata. Before cheap car rental in hawaii the cuts, there were three daily non-stops to Memphis and two each to Providence and Cincinnati. Just three new non-stop destinations were added: cheap car rental in hawaii Miami, Santa Fe and Silver City, N.M.
Sharply reduced flight frequencies on many routes. The number of weekly Phoenix-Las Vegas flights fell by half, from 230 to 115, as did the number of weekly flights to Nashville, from 27 to 13, according to Innovata. The number of Phoenix-Cleveland flights plunged 82 percent, from 28 to five. The number of weekly San Diego flights fell by a third, cheap car rental in hawaii to 109. There had been 232 weekly flights to Los Angeles, compared with 182 today, a 22 percent decline.
Hiked airfares at a rate higher than the national average. The average inflation-adjusted fare paid for a domestic airline ticket in Phoenix increased 9 percent from the second quarter of 2007 through the second quarter of 2013, compared with 3.5 percent nationally, according to the federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics. A handful of major airports, including San Francisco International (which added Virgin America) and Atlanta and Denver, saw fares fall during that period.
In a separate ranking of 29 large hub airports, Phoenix was one of 12 airports to post a double-digit increase (10 percent) in average, inflation-adjusted one-way domestic fares between 2007 and 2012, according to Massachusetts Institute of Technology s International Center for Air Transportation.
cheap car rental in hawaii Sharply increased ticket prices on many routes, according to Buckingham Research Group, an investment firm in New York. The average one-way fare from Phoenix to Los Angeles cheap car rental in hawaii on Southwest Airlines jumped 36.2 percent between the end of 2007 and the end of 2012, to $104, it found. US Airways average one-way fares to Los Angeles jumped 25 percent in the period, to $103. Flights to Albuquerque on Southwest leapt 54.2 percent, to $113 one way on average, and the average fares to Dallas and Houston on Southwest cheap car rental in hawaii also soared by more than 50 percent. Fares to Denver from Phoenix cheap car rental in hawaii on US Airways and Southwest each rose more than 35 percent, to $118 and $105 respectively.
Airport officials are hopeful for more competition from Phoenix newcomers, including Spirit Airlines, cheap car rental in hawaii a discount carrier known for bargain fares and a pile of fees, and low-cost Mexican carrier Volaris. cheap car rental in hawaii Airport cheap car rental in hawaii officials say they expect other airlines to fill any void left by the US Airways-American merger because of the strong local travel demand in Phoenix.
But the industry s five-year focus on financial discipline and the resulting record profits have undeniably altered the travel landscape permanently, airline executives hope giving vacationers and business travelers fewer options, less convenience, pricier trips and little elbow room.
Mark Harston, who travels 30 to 40 weekends per year in his job as motor-sports marketing manager for Scottsdale-based trade-school operator cheap car rental in hawaii Universal Technical Institute, is reminded of the cutbacks every time he books, boards or misses a flight.
Round-trip tickets to Las Vegas and Los Angeles cheap car rental in hawaii that used to be $100 if purchased several weeks in advance now routinely start at about $200, he said. Last-minute tickets are more than $400. Flights to Orlando, where he used to live, have nearly doubled. He found no deals in a recent search for tickets to Florida for a wedding next spring.
In mid-2008, the price of oil among airlines biggest expenses skyrocketed to record levels, forcing airlines to take drastic steps to cover the cost. US Airways estimated its annual fuel bill was running $2 billion higher than the previous year at the peak of the crisis.
cheap car rental in hawaii The recession crushed travel demand and forced airlines to cut even more flights. Four years ago this fall, US Airways announced its third major layoff in a year and said it would cut its already-shrunken Las Vegas service by another 50 percent cheap car rental in hawaii as well as cut service to other cities.
Airlines started merging during those rocky years. Delta and Northwest were first, in 2008, followed by United and Continental in 2010 and Southwest and AirTran in 2011. One of the first moves after any merger: Airlines cut overlapping routes and flights that don t fit the combined airlines vision. Compared with the fall of 2007, United cheap car rental in hawaii now has nearly one-third fewer flights out of Phoenix than United and Continental did, and Delta has 14.9 percent fewer flights than Delta and Northwest did, according to Innovata.
American Airlines continued the shrinking when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in late 2011. American today has more weekly flights from Phoenix than it did at the peak in 2007 but it is flying cheap car rental in hawaii smaller planes, reducing the number of seats for sale by nearly cheap car rental in hawaii 16 percent, according to Innovata.
Sky Harbor officials say Phoenix travelers are fortunate cheap car rental in hawaii because the airport is home to two large airline hubs. Some other major airports are dominated by one carrier. Think Atlanta (Delta), Dallas/Fort Worth (American) cheap car rental in hawaii and Charlotte (US Airways).
We feel very comfortable that we have not just one but two strong major carriers here, who came out of this (industry restructuring) in great shape financially, said Tamie Fisher, acting cheap car rental in hawaii Phoenix aviation director. They re committed to the market.
US Airways has eliminated 18.1 percent of its flights and 14.5 percent of its seats at Sky Harbor cheap car rental in hawaii since fall 2007, according to Innovata. It has gone from 88 non-stop destinations to 72. Cities cut include Colorado Springs, Colo.; Wichita, Kan.; and Carlsbad, cheap car rental in hawaii Calif. The number of daily flights has fallen from 292 to 255.
At its Charlotte, N.C., hub, in contrast, US Airways has boosted the number of daily flights, cheap car rental in hawaii from 526 to 613, and held the number of non-stop destinations steady at 114. Charlotte and Philadelphia are more lucrative hubs for US Airways because there are more business travelers, who pay more for their tickets than the vacation travelers prevalent in Phoenix.
Having Southwest Airlines in an airport s lineup has long been an advantage for travelers, given its reputation for rapid growth and low fares. Phoenix was an early Southwest city service began in 1982 and at one time Sky Harbor was neck and neck with Las Vegas as the city with the most daily Southwest cheap car rental in hawaii flights.
We ve been trimming flights across the country, CEO Gary Kelly said on the airline s earnings conference call in late October. It s a rarity to find cities that are having cheap car rental in hawaii increased flight activity.
Southwest, which carries more local passengers than US Airways, has cut weekly flights out of Sky Harbor by 21.5 percent since 2007 and the number of seats by 17.4 percent, according to Innovata. Southwest has about 168 daily departures from Phoenix, cheap car rental in hawaii down from 206 in 2007. Chicago, Las Vegas, Baltimore, Atlanta and Denver now have more daily Southwest flights than Phoenix.
The Dallas-based cheap car rental in hawaii airline has expanded to new cities in that period, cheap car rental in hawaii including New York, Boston and Minneapolis. It has done so largely at the expense of more mature hubs such as Phoenix to keep its overall growth flat.
What it is that people don t appreciate is how much capacity cheap car rental in hawaii Southwest has removed from the markets that it serves in order to find airplanes to start new markets, said Bill Swelbar, a research engineer at MIT s International Center for Air Transportation.
The airline has reduced flights on many routes out of Sky Harbor it offers nine flights a day on average cheap car rental in hawaii to Las Vegas compared with 18 in 2007, according cheap car rental in hawaii to Innovata cheap car rental in hawaii and eliminated non-stop service between Phoenix and Boston, Providence, Hartford and Manchester, N.H. Passengers must make connections in cities Southwest has turned into connecting hubs, including D