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You mean Paris to New York on Air France costs less than New York to Paris on an American line?
As to what can be done about it - the same as with any product: You have to get enough people to stop paying for it. If two-thirds of their customers disappeared, the prices would drop.
Whoever claimed that??
And, sure, getting people to stop paying for something would do the trick. But, without having truly competitive alternatives, the likelihood of this happening decreases significantly.
As noted previously lack of competition fueled by favorable policies and or inaction by the federal government is the main reason for high American airline costs.
The days of a People's Express, Tower Air or similar airline being able to break into a market with drastically lower fares is basically over. Jet Blue probably was the last we shall see in a long time.
At most primary and even secondary major airports in the USA you have a handful if not perhaps one or two American airlines holding a majority of gates/prime slots. This is especially true when it comes to the big money, international flights. If anyone even attempts to enter such markets the established big players will drop their prices below the new entry and keep them there until someone cries "uncle"; guess who that will be?
Ironically much of this anti-competitive atmosphere can be laid at the feet of the federal government's deregulation of the airline industry.
Deregulation coupled with several other factors such as bad management, poor business decisions or out right destruction ( Frank Lorenzo, Eastern Airlines and Carl Icahn, TWA) has lead to an airline industry in the USA dominated by really a handful of players. In theory it isn't a monopoly nationwide but in certain areas it certainly looks that way.
It's landing fees. Airports are locally owned and the cities charge fees based on their political motivation. Manchester, NH has the lowest landing fees in New England. Manchester wants business to come to Manchester. Bangor, Maine has very high landing fees because they see the old Dow Air Force Base as a cash cow, Many Maine people find it cheaper to drive to Manchester to fly than to use Bangor International Airport.
Then there is the Portland, Maine Jetport where Al Shabbab, Somalia's branch of ISIS, has the exclusive taxi franchise. Hey, you can't make this stuff up.
Mutual funds don't just invest in ONE airline, they invest in several at a time. The leaders of the large-shareholder mutual funds pressure each of the airlines they're invested in to maximize profits and they're doing it very effectively by maintaining a balance between keeping flights full and fares high. (Flights that are less-than-full or full of low-fare flyers aren't nearly so profitable.) They're also NOT pressuring the airlines they invest in to beat competitors - because they also own a large piece of that competitor!
Our retirement accounts nowadays are chock full of mutual funds. So the great irony in all of this is that our own retirement savings are pricing us out of one of the things most of us want to do more of in retirement - travel!
As noted previously lack of competition fueled by favorable policies and or inaction by the federal government is the main reason for high American airline costs.
The days of a People's Express, Tower Air or similar airline being able to break into a market with drastically lower fares is basically over. Jet Blue probably was the last we shall see in a long time.
At most primary and even secondary major airports in the USA you have a handful if not perhaps one or two American airlines holding a majority of gates/prime slots. This is especially true when it comes to the big money, international flights. If anyone even attempts to enter such markets the established big players will drop their prices below the new entry and keep them there until someone cries "uncle"; guess who that will be?
Ironically much of this anti-competitive atmosphere can be laid at the feet of the federal government's deregulation of the airline industry.
Deregulation coupled with several other factors such as bad management, poor business decisions or out right destruction ( Frank Lorenzo, Eastern Airlines and Carl Icahn, TWA) has lead to an airline industry in the USA dominated by really a handful of players. In theory it isn't a monopoly nationwide but in certain areas it certainly looks that way.
I've seen some speculation that the Justice Dept. might be rethinking it's approach to deregulation.
Day Late, Dollar Short, was the first thought that hit me.
It's landing fees. Airports are locally owned and the cities charge fees based on their political motivation. Manchester, NH has the lowest landing fees in New England. Manchester wants business to come to Manchester. Bangor, Maine has very high landing fees because they see the old Dow Air Force Base as a cash cow, Many Maine people find it cheaper to drive to Manchester to fly than to use Bangor International Airport.
Then there is the Portland, Maine Jetport where Al Shabbab, Somalia's branch of ISIS, has the exclusive taxi franchise. Hey, you can't make this stuff up.
I've seen some speculation that the Justice Dept. might be rethinking it's approach to deregulation.
Day Late, Dollar Short, was the first thought that hit me.
See and I question what they'll ever be able to do about that, because of the mutual fund connection. Airline profitability is funding people's retirement plans. Politicians who mess with people's retirement will pay for it at the ballot box!
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