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Airlines' Cuts Making Cities No-Fly Zones »

Posted by: engineer 3 months, 2 weeks ago

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Financially strapped airlines are cutting service, and nearly 30 US cities have seen their scheduled service disappear in the last year. Over the same period, more than 400 airports, in cities large and small, have seen flight cuts

Read Full Story at nytimes.com

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engineer3 months, 2 weeks ago

The service cuts are far from over, as jet fuel prices rise, airlines shut down and companies consider mergers, like the Delta-Northwest deal.
For American travelers, the shift means that they can no longer bank on scheduling flights to reach their destination within a single day, said Robert W. Mann Jr., an industry consultant in Port Washington, N.Y.
"Everybody expects frequent, convenient, high-quality service with great connectivity to the rest of the world," Mr. Mann said. But given the steep rise in fuel prices, which are up 84.5 percent from a year ago, airlines have to make difficult choices on service.
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  nostalgia3 months, 2 weeks ago
  
  American Airlines has announced another change
  American Airlines to charge for checked baggage
  Passengers will be charged $15 for their first piece of luggage. The airline, blaming high fuel costs, also plans other fee hikes, domestic flight cutbacks and layoffs.
  http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/...
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    Teech3 months, 2 weeks ago
    
    Before deregulation, airlines could serve small cities with regulated rates that guaranteed a small profit. Good for the airline, good for the small market.
    In a deregulated environment, if a market is not profitable, zap! It's eliminated. Drive your car to the nearest city with service.
    Both my kids work for major airlines. They've endured loss of all benefits and up to 50% pay cuts, take it or leave it.
    "Everybody expects frequent, convenient, high-quality service with great connectivity to the rest of the world," Mr. Mann said. What he failed to say is that consumers want first class flawless service and expect to get it wearing tank-tops, flip-flops, and paying only $89 to fly from L.A. to New York. They'd like a steak dinner tossed in for free. Doesn't work that way any more. Line up, strap in, shut up and enjoy your peanuts. Don't like it. Take the bus!
    American will lead the way charging for baggage and others will follow, if the market will bear it.
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      nostalgia3 months, 2 weeks ago
      
      Did you read the article?
      "The Essential Air Service program was created in 1978, when the airline industry was deregulated, to ensure that communities in remote areas would be linked to the nation's air system.
      The government provides subsidies of about $100 million a year to the airlines, resulting in service to 102 communities.
      The subsidies have not risen fast enough to cover the jump in fuel costs, and passengers have resisted paying higher prices for plane tickets, prompting carriers to pull out of a number of cities."
      They serviced the smaller cities because of a sudsidy put in place in 1978 when deregulation occurred
      Hagerstown briefly lost its eligibility for the Essential Air Service last year - the government has rules for the subsidy
      The subsidies have not risen fast enough to cover increased costs and people don't want to pay more for tickets
      This was really a "deregulated subsidized" industry - the government rarely totally deregulates anything
      
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        nostalgia3 months, 2 weeks ago
        
        "Revelations surfaced almost daily regarding donations from foreign sources to the Democratic Party and Clinton's past campaigns. At the center of the controversy was another set of people to whom Clinton owes a few favors: the Lippo Group, a powerful $5 billion Indonesian conglomerate, founded and owned by the Riady family who, it turned out, had raised and funneled millions of dollars into campaign coffers
        It is very low sulfur, low ash - hence, low polluting - coal, the kind in high demand
        Besides the Kaiparowitz Plateau, there are only two other known locations in the world where comparable coal is found in sufficient quantities to make mining it worthwhile. Colombia in South America is one, but it'll be years before the necessary mining and shipping infrastructure is built
        The other? You got it. Indonesia.
        http://www.laissez-fairerepublic.com/indocoal.htm
        
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walden33 months, 2 weeks ago

As we reach or pass peak oil, the simple fact is that we're not going to be able to spread out as much as we are used to. Long commutes will be a thing of the past. Suburbs may die off. We'll all have to eat what's in season instead of strawberries in January. The way of life we've grown accustomed to over the past 50-70 years will be changing.
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  nostalgia3 months, 2 weeks ago
  
  "We'll all have to eat what's in season instead of strawberries in January"
  I'm not sure about that Walden
  With CAFTA and NAFTA a lot of fruit and vegetables will be coming into the country from Mexico and Central America
  As far as the suburbs - there are many park and rides here in north TX that have not seen much use until now
  I'm seeing many more people using these services
  Many neighbors are also working from home and only going into the office 1-2 days per week
  They have also been expanding commuter rail service in the area
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    walden33 months, 2 weeks ago
    
    As the days of cheap A/C and plentiful water ends north TX will be affected. Texas is a large state and people are used to driving 40, 50 or 60 miles for errands and entertainment. It's over. Maybe not today, tomorrow or next year, but changes are coming.
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      nostalgia3 months, 2 weeks ago
      
      Walden, yes I agree that changes are coming BUT too many states are sitting back and waiting for the Feds to act. Texas is trying to move ahead on their own
      2 new nuclear plants are in the works here.
      Another huge wind tubine farm is going up - funding for the largest one is coming from a billionaire TX oilman
      Research is going on to generate electricity from waves in the Gulf
      The state is giving $2000 to people with old vehicles to buy newer ones - to reduce pollution and get better mileage
      This weekend they are encouraging people to buy Energy Star appliances - you won't have to pay any sales tax on them this weekend
      Rail is being expanded in the Metroplex - much of it paid for by cities in the area
      One city not far from me is producing biofuel from their landfill. The facility has an initial production capacity of three million gallons of pure biodiesel per year and is powered by renewable biogas extracted from the adjacent City of Denton Landfill.
      
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        walden33 months, 2 weeks ago
        
        It's nice to see movement in the right direction.
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        nostalgia3 months, 2 weeks ago
        
        But why are so many states waiting for the Feds to act??
        Congress has had 3 hearings with the executives from oil companies in the last 19 months. YET what has Congress actually done in the last 19 months about the price of gas?
        It should be obvious to everyone that Congress has no answers or is unwilling to do what might be politically unpopular
        
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        walden33 months, 2 weeks ago
        
        Why just look at the last 19 months? We've known forever that oil is finite. I like nuclear power, but it is a tough sell, same for drilling and refineries. The old NIMBY thing. We need to improve the fuel economy of cars and raise the CAFE standards. We need to fund public transportation more.
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        nostalgia3 months, 2 weeks ago
        
        Those certainly need to be in the mix but won't get us where we need to be
        Private vehicles use ~2.5 million barrels of oil out of the ~20 million barrels/day consumed in this country
        Nuclear and clean coal technology both need to be used
        Meanwhile everyone in Washington appears to be frozen in place
        At least with the refineries there is a little good news - new one going up on the TX coast and another being expanded in Louisiana
        Unfortunately you are correct about the NIMBY - many people on Propeller who criticize the oil companies for not building new refineries are the very same people who would fight tooth and nail to prevent one from being built near them
        
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        tkyrchncs3 months, 2 weeks ago
        
        I am good with nuclear, wind, geothermal, solsr, and wave technologies. but the coal needs to wait not just for clean combustion technology but for significantly improved extraction procedures and policies. Having coal for our cities is not worth the destruction of Appalachia.
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        jumpmaster3 months, 2 weeks ago
        
        "But why are so many states waiting for the Feds to act??"
        Because people do not want to be accountable for their own actions. The actions you listed above are right here, right now things that have been put in motion by people with initiative and conviction.
        Too many people do not have either initiative or conviction and they thrive on criticizing someone else's ideas. They don't have any ideas of their own but they always have opinions on everyone else's ideas.
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        nostalgia3 months, 2 weeks ago
        
        Like the Kansas governor who vetoed 2 new coal plants but has no ideas for how to provide more electricity for the state?
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        jumpmaster3 months, 2 weeks ago
        
        Maybe he is hoping for the Colorado River to reroute itself through Kansas so he can build Hoover Dam II.
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        nostalgia3 months, 2 weeks ago
        
        LOL it's a "she"
        Maybe she can burn some corn! Shoot that won't work either. When she vetoed he coal plants she signed an executive order to establishe the Kansas Energy and Environmental Policy Advisory Group
        Burning corn would never get approval
        "The Advisory Group will explore opportunities in all sectors of our economy to accomplish the goal of reducing our greenhouse gas emissions; and, at the same time, continue to take advantage of the economic prosperity provided by job growth throughout Kansas."
        This report is dated March 21, 2008
        
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        jumpmaster3 months, 2 weeks ago
        
        It looks like she came up with another non-idea.
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        KvilleTXComment removed: User banned.
        
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        tkyrchncs3 months, 2 weeks ago
        
        Where is all this coal going to come from? By what right should Kansas or Michigan or NY fuel the destruction of WV?
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        nostalgia3 months, 2 weeks ago
        
        There is a huge coal reserve in Utah. Bill Clinton in effect took it off the market with one stroke of his pen
        "When the President signed the Executive Order designating 1.7 million acres of land in southwest Utah as the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, his action placed the area off limits to mineral extraction and development.
        The NYT reported that the monument encloses the largest coal field in the nation, the Kaiparowitz Plateau, which contains at least 7 billion tons of coal worth over $1 TRILLION.
        Kentucky-based company Andalux Resources, which holds leases on 3,400 acres in the area, was planning to open a huge operation that would have generated 1,000 jobs, $1 million in annual revenue for Kane County, and at least $10 million a year in state and federal taxes, according to the New York Times. Folks living in the area wore black arm bands the day of the signing - but Clinton didn't see them. He chose to make his announcement in a neighboring state."
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        tkyrchncs3 months, 2 weeks ago
        
        Have you ever been in the coal fields? The mining may generate 1000 or how-ever-many jobs for a short while, but it doesn't last because the coal is eventually exhausted, and the environment is destroyed. Literally destroyed-no life, not liveable, not likely to be in a thousand years, and never again anything like what it is now-the oldest and most biodeverse temperate forest on Earth. Mining in this manner and on this scale is typical of our species-destroying something truly magnificent and irreplaceable in order to keep our apartment temperature 2 degrees different from outside.
        I don't want to see this happen to Utah too, like it is now in Virginia and West Virginia. Conserve energy and get a job where you can walk to work.
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        nostalgia3 months, 2 weeks ago
        
        "Have you ever been in the coal fields?"
        I grew up in Johnstown PA. The 2 largest employers at that time were steel mills and coal mines
        Maybe you need to talk to the officials in WV and VA who allowed strip mining - didn't Senator Byrd support the strip mining?
        They were not going to strip mine in Utah
        How about asking the people of Utah how they felt about Clinton's action - they made it pretty plain when they wore black arm bands. After all it's their land and their economy, isn't it?
        
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        tkyrchncs3 months, 2 weeks ago
        
        Believe me I have talked to anybody and everybody who will listen, and left messages and sent mail to all of them, whether they listen or not, with pictures. What they are doing is not strip mining. They are leveling mountains and dumping the fill into valleys, killing the biosphere there too, and poisoning the water. It is obscene. Unless coal is VERY deep in the ground, this is the most efficient and cheapest way to get it out. Considering the influence of big energy concerns, I doubt any other method of extraction has even been looked at. Clinton probably did the only thing that could have been done to remain in ANY control of what happens there. I wish someone would declare the Appalachian forests some sort of national treasure, since they are in reality a WORLD treasure, and they are being destroyed beyond redemption.
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        saintetienne3 months, 2 weeks ago
        
        "They don't have any ideas of their own but they always have opinions on everyone else's ideas."
        Sounds like a lot of the rubes on propeller. (HannibalBarca, engineer, Ciera Marie, Tessylo....the list goes on and on....)
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        joeblowe3 months, 2 weeks ago
        
        TX may only be a ONE STAR state, but it sounds like they are at least TRYING to earn a second star.... {;>D)=
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        nostalgia3 months, 2 weeks ago
        
        LOL 2 stars would be too distracting
        It is more obvious when the Lone Star flag and the US flag are flown side by side that the 2 are at equal height
        Certainly brings out many comments when visitors from other states notice the 2 flags flying at the same height
        
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  saintetienne3 months, 2 weeks ago
  
  "As we reach or pass peak oil, the simple fact is that we're not going to be able to spread out as much as we are used to. Long commutes will be a thing of the past. Suburbs may die off. We'll all have to eat what's in season instead of strawberries in January. The way of life we've grown accustomed to over the past 50-70 years will be changing."
  Honestly, waldrip - - what planet do you live on?
  Unlike YOU, most people have ingenuity, drive, ambition and reasoning skills to figure out ways of not only continuing the lifestyle they've become accustomed to, but improving it, reaching out and obtaining more. It's called optimism and gumption, two things this country was built on and continues to excel in, while you, liberals and France just give up, lay down and die in a woe-is-me-induced morass.
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    walden33 months, 2 weeks ago
    
    Before driving somewhere do people pause and consider the cost of gas now, whereas in the past we just got up and went?
    Then duh, our way of life has changed.
    If you don't think $5, $8 or $10 a gallon gas is gonna change our very way of life then you are lacking in your own reasoning skills.
    Of course we're gonna adapt. We're gonna adapt to our changing way of life.
    
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      saintetienne3 months, 2 weeks ago
      
      "Before driving somewhere do people pause and consider the cost of gas now, whereas in the past we just got up and went?"
      Sure they do. And they either shrug and continue on their merry way, or they do something about their situation, like ride public transportation - as I have been doing for 10 years now. People will either do nothing, cut back on something else or hop on a bus. It's their choice. Where's the big change?
      "If you don't think $5, $8 or $10 a gallon gas is gonna change our very way of life then you are lacking in your own reasoning skills."
      I DON'T think it's going to change, because people will cut back on driving if it gets too expensive. Some people love their cars and will pay any price to continue driving, while others don't care so much and will walk, ride a bike, get on a bus or limit their trips.
      Gas is $18.42 a gallon in Sierra Leone, and $9 a gallon across Europe. Where's the riots? Where's the upheaval?
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joeblowe3 months, 2 weeks ago

EVERY industry that uses petroleum fuels has GOT to be taking a hard look at their operation. The cost of diesel has gotten WAY out of hand. At a fairly typical rate of 5 MPG for a loaded 18 wheeler, it now costs about $ .90 PER MILE in fuel costs alone to move freight down the highway. And that doesn't EVEN take into account profit margin, driver pay, tractor mortgage, maintenance, insurance, or taxes.
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joeblowe3 months, 2 weeks ago

The airlines simply CANNOT do what the transportation industry in general does because when a fuel surcharge of, say 50% of the normal rate is applied to a few thousand parts of whatever are in the container, the additional cost for each part is only a couple pennies. When you are transporting a PERSON, the entire fuel surcharge is applied to ONE item - YOU. Imagine how likely you are to do a lot of traveling when you find that there is half again the charged rate added to your ticket for fuel surcharge. I predict good times ahead for those selling video conferencing equipment.
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