The incredible shrinking airline

July 02, 2009 | Online Travel

U.S. carriers long accustomed to elbowing their way to market share by adding planes and routes and destinations are now scrambling to see who can shrink the fastest, changing the entire business model, writes Travel Weekly.

Arne Haak, AirTran’s CFO, captured the current mindset of the airline industry when he told analysts at this month’s Merrill Lynch investors conference in New York that “minus-4% is the new growth.”

While negative growth describes everything about the industry today, from routes to new plane orders, Haak was talking about capacity as carriers are now preparing to cut more deeply through the rest of this year than they had initially planned.

For example, Delta, which earlier had said it would cut capacity 6% to 8% this year, said in June that it planned to trim 10%. American, whose previous forecast had called for a 6.5% cut, is now saying it will be closer to 7.5%.

Get the full story at Travel Weekly (free registration)

Most Popular Articles

Social media in travel becomes a legitimate business force
04 Mar, 2010 | Online Travel

Does your hotel really need a social media strategy?
11 Mar, 2010 | Hospitality Industry

Travelport brings GDS advertising in-house, says good-bye to TravelClick
03 Mar, 2010 | Hospitality Industry

Un-stoppable growth in OTA bookings, GDS still lacking behind
05 Mar, 2010 | Online Travel

Content is king, but conversion is queen
03 Mar, 2010 | Internet Marketing

How TripAdvisor engages mass influencers
12 Mar, 2010 | Online Travel

6 ways to drive more online travel sales in 2010
11 Mar, 2010 | Online Travel

The need for a more holistic approach to revenue management
10 Mar, 2010 | Hospitality Industry

Raise RevPAR with value selling
03 Mar, 2010 | Hospitality Industry

The 3 key personalities of the online consumer
05 Mar, 2010 | Internet Marketing

E-Mail Newsletter


Visit our sponsors: