New York – The airline industry boosted many one-way fares by up to $10 late Monday, as carriers struggle with weakening domestic results, though most have had scant success in making increases stick recently.
Late Monday, Continental Airlines Inc. raised one-way fares in 30 percent of the top U.S. markets by $5 for advanced-purchase tickets and by $10 for last-minute seats, according to, an airfare tracking website. That triggered competitors American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines, United Airlines and US Airways to match on overlapping routes, as well as on some routes out of hub airports.
It’s the industry’s fifth or sixth attempt to increase fares this year, said Rick Seaney, chief executive of If it succeeds, it would be the year’s first, as prior attempts unraveled within a week after low-cost carriers refused to join in, he said.
Last year, when carriers were flush amid strong demand and relatively flat capacity of airplane seats, Seaney said, almost all the industry’s attempts succeeded. There were about seven.
By the count of Jamie Baker, a JP Morgan analyst, the big network airlines have tried to raise fares seven times this year, with two successes. Baker also wrote in a research report that low-cost carrier AirTran Holdings Inc. was the first to raise fares Monday, increasing one-way fares by $5 to $10 by midday.
He described the industry’s most recent attempt as a small fare increase. American Airlines raised about 6,000 fares. A typical broad-based increase covers about 300,000 fares, he wrote.
“Given increasingly poor sector sentiment, news of AirTran’s fare increase may lift the spirits of some, though we ascribe little fundamental value to the effort,” Baker wrote.
Investors have hammered airline stocks recently amid flagging domestic results, hurt by sharp competition from low-cost carriers and higher fuel costs.
Continental said late last week its overall passenger unit revenue – an important industry gauge measuring revenue divided by capacity – fell an estimated 0.5 percent to 1.5 percent from May 2006 levels. Analysts said Wall Street expected about 1 percent growth.
