“They’re looking at what they need to do to adjust their business plan to try to respond as much as one can to that much of a significant drop in revenue,” Ratliff said.
The increase in tensions between Russian-Ukraine also are pushing oil prices higher, which has sent the cost of producing jet/airline fuel to an eight-year high. Those tensions also are preventing airlines from capitalizing on one of the bright spots they were looking forward to this summer: the return of international travel.
“So you have all of these things working against them at a time with increased operational cost when their revenue is down significantly,” Ratliff said. “There’s two options (of what airlines can do). They can say the routes that are no longer profitable for us because of the rise of fuel (costs), we’re going to temporarily suspend service to those areas.”
| Average Domestic Air Fares | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Quarter | U.S. Average (Inflation-Adjusted $) | Cincinnati - OH (Inflation-Adjusted $) | Columbus - OH (Inflation-Adjusted $) | Dayton - OH (Inflation-Adjusted $) |
| 2020 | 1 | 356 | 334.35 | 371.35 | 455.71 |
| 2020 | 2 | 276.04 | 228.81 | 275.59 | 286.77 |
| 2020 | 3 | 257.77 | 231.72 | 258.62 | 293.84 |
| 2020 | 4 | 273.95 | 248.92 | 279.61 | 320.02 |
| 2021 | 1 | 270.55 | 258.3 | 290.07 | 327.69 |
| 2021 | 2 | 304.59 | 284.19 | 313.24 | 367.23 |
| 2021 | 3 | 314.39 | 285.58 | 323.12 | 373.56 |
| NOTE: Inflation-Adjusted air fares are calculated using dollars for the year of the most recent fare release. | |||||
| SOURCE: Bureau of Transportation Statistics |
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