oil prices

Unless something drastic happens to lower oil prices I do expect the airlines
to impose fuel surcharges pretty soon. All our major US airlines are in deep
doo-doo already. If oil prices remain at these levels or continue to climb I
would not be surprised to see a modest surcharge added to cruiseships. Just my
personal opinion.

Funny you should mention this. I was watching CNBC this morning and they
mentioned how Southwest Airlines had protected themselves.

"As oil prices try to head over $40 a barrel, squeezing transportation
company profits, one petroleum user is sitting pretty: Southwest Airlines
Co.
The Dallas-based airline has hedged more than 80 percent of its fuel needs
for the next two years at a price of $24 a barrel. And Southwest is the only
U.S. carrier to have hedged most of its fuel.

How important are those fuel hedges for Southwest? "It's huge," said Chief
Executive Jim Parker in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires earlier this
week.

That foresight was the reason Southwest turned a profit in the first
quarter, while other airlines bled due to high fuel costs and depressed air
fares. Without the hedges, Southwest's profit of $26 million would have been
a loss of $8 million."


DG in Cherry Hill, NJ






"HDawson228" wrote in message
...
Unless something drastic happens to lower oil prices I do expect the
airlines
to impose fuel surcharges pretty soon. All our major US airlines are in
deep
doo-doo already. If oil prices remain at these levels or continue to
climb I
would not be surprised to see a modest surcharge added to cruiseships.
Just my
personal opinion.