Jul 20, 2008 12:23 pm US/Pacific
LAX Cuts Flights By 16.4 Percent To Meet Fuel Cost
LOS ANGELES
Enormous increases in the price of fuel, and decreased discretionary spending by travelers, has resulted in drastic cuts in the number of airline flights across the nation in general, and at Los Angeles International Airport in particular, it was reported Sunday.
The number of flights scheduled through LAX has dropped 16.4 percent in the last 12 months, an airline industry analysis firm in Atlanta reports. But the total number of seats available to book through LAX decreased by only 10.7 percent, indicating that smaller airplanes are predominately the ones being eliminated at the airport.
The Daily Breeze reported the decrease in landings means a decrease in landing fees just as LAX is planning a major expansion funded by that revenue.
The Los Angeles World Airports staff is devising a new fee structure for consideration by the city's Airports Commission later this summer, the paper said.
Airport spokeswoman Nancy Castles told the Daily Breeze she could not corroborate the 16.4 percent figure. But an industry expert said service cuts are going to cost LAX millions in landing fees, concession profits and parking lot revenues.
Aviation analyst Mike Boyd told the paper that the recent cuts may be just the beginning. "I wouldn't be surprised if the airlines took a chain saw and hacked away at their schedules even further.
"`LAX is not in a death spiral and is still going to be a busy and uncomfortable airport, but I predict deeper cuts in the next few months," he told the Daily Breeze.
Castles pointed out that more international carriers are adding LAX to their global maps, including Emirates Air, which starts service to Dubai soon.
In addition, Virgin American plans to start flights to Chicago/O'Hare, and Horizon Air will start daily service to the ski slopes at Mammoth Lakes this winter.
But the bulk of service at LAX is on the three big domestic airlines, America, Delta and United, that are slicing service dramatically everywhere.
American plans to eliminate 86 LAX arrivals and departures per week in November. Delta plans to eliminate 68, and United plans to axe 266 flights in and out of LAX per week as well.
And that's just the big planes, the airlines said, as the affiliated regional airlines flying under the big companies' names plan to slash more than 1,200 weekly commuter flights at LAX. Those planes routinely connect LAX to such destinations as Santa Maria, Fresno and San Diego.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
