More airlines announce fleet cutbacks


Christine Sarkis
Christine Sarkis
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    It's not just

    Delta

    . On Wednesday,

    United

    ,

    JetBlue

    , and

    US Airways

    announced new fleet cutbacks to deal with what this

    USA Today article

    pegs as a 30 percent rise in fuel prices in the past six weeks. And,

    American

    and

    Southwest

    "left the door open for capacity cuts or further slowing of their growth." The article details the cutbacks.

    Most of the airlines are retiring older, less efficient mainline jets.

    Continental

    CFO even pointed out that the airline could seriously cut its fuel costs by retiring more than 60 of its less efficient planes by the end of 2009.

    So what does this all mean for passengers? As our own

    Tim Winship

    said yesterday when I asked him about Delta's move, flyers in smaller markets may well be inconvenienced by the flight cuts. And, already shaky customer service suffers even more when airlines cut back on employees. As Tim put it, the danger is that airlines "will not only cut fat, but muscle and bone as well."