Reply #1: I don't see either the 600K seat reduction or the $40 ticket increase mentioned in the article.

[pinto]

I see this mentioned -

“At some point, as companies look at a weak economy and weak consumer spending, they may pull back” on travel, said Philip Baggaley, an S&P debt analyst in New York. “It will be more difficult for the airlines to continue to raise prices.”

That shifts airlines’ focus to chopping expenses. They can save money with steps such as reducing flight frequencies, dropping some routes and substituting smaller planes for larger aircraft. All those moves reduce available seating capacity, measured by the number of seats flown a mile.

- but no hard data on the effects on available capacities or pricing. :shrug: