OIL AND AIRLINES

Well, here are my first blog comments. Maria has been on me for a while to do this, so it's going to FINALLY become a reality!!! Oil has been on my mind for a while. In an industry such as the airlines, all the focus has been on customer satisfaction, and not the fact that it's hard to be happy when you've taken paycuts, benefit cuts, and worry daily about your job security. Oil has just about put my industry out of business. The traveling public has been so mislead about the airlines that they really have no clue as to how it "really is". Let's take fuel for example. Today in PBI (West Palm Beach, FL) the cost of jet fuel for my airline was $3.98 a gallon. (The airlines are currently paying a premium called "crack spread" of about $36 a bbl for oil, so we are paying just shy of $170 a bbl right now, while the consumer sees $133 a bbl on TV.) A few short years ago jet fuel was around 72 cents a gallon!!! Yet the price of tickets has not gone up to compensate for this massive increase!! Our fuel bill from Newark, NJ, to PBI was approximately $8,500, and that's only a B-737 and accounted for NO delays along the way!! Factor in the price of the aircraft (approximately $5000 an hour) and you'll see that it runs approximately $20,500 for a 2:15 flight!!! Now let's include the crew, maintenance, takeoff and landing fees, gate leases, gate agents, reservations agents, advertising, headquarters/operations, cleaning crews, catering, rampers, etc., and you'll see just how expensive a quick trip can really be. Depressing isn't it? And yet so many passengers think their ticket is going to make us big $$$$$. At least I live in Hollywood, FL, and THAT is enough to help keep me happy. Maria, I'm FINALLY getting started on this blog for you!!! Thanks for making this a reality. Tomorrow I'll try and get some nice plane photos for my website! Check it out!! http://www.photosbykarl.net/