Even With Cuts, City Makes Soft Landing

By Jennifer Palmer, The Oklahoman

Jun. 7–Major airlines have been slashing flights, cutting jobs, retiring planes and raising fees to keep up with record oil prices.

But Southwest Airlines, the largest carrier at Will Rogers World Airport and Tulsa International Airport, plans no cuts for now, said Chris Mainz, a spokesman for Southwest.

Seventy percent of Southwest’s fuel costs for 2008 are locked in at prices from when oil cost just $51 a barrel — a steal compared to Friday’s price of nearly $140 a barrel. Hedging fuel costs has helped Southwest stay profitable and nearly eliminated the need for cuts.

The airline is actually on target to grow by about 4 percent this year and may look to fill gaps in cities abandoned by other airlines.

“We have a much different story to tell than the other carriers,” Mainz said.

Other airlines have not fared so well:

— Continental Airlines announced this week it will reduce flights by 11 percent and eliminate 3,000 jobs.

— United Airlines said it will cut up to 1,100 more jobs and 18 percent of flights by 2009, as well as retire 70 airplanes.

— Two weeks ago, American Airlines said it would cut capacity up to 12 percent later this year and eliminate thousands of jobs, although an exact number hasn’t been released.

— Delta announced in March it would slice flight capacity by 10 percent this year.

The airlines have not yet finalized their fall schedules, so the exact impact on local airports is not known.

Customers won’t notice much Many of these cuts will have a minimal impact in an airport the size of Will Rogers World Airport, industry experts say. The vast majority of flights in and out of Tulsa and Oklahoma City will remain, said Bob McAdoo, senior airline analyst at Avondale Partners LLC. He said newer, direct flights and experimental routes will probably be the first to go.

“Nobody’s going to be very adventuresome in this kind of market,” he said.

Tim Smith, a spokesman for American Airlines, said most of that airline’s reductions will be what he calls “onesie, twosies.” For example, if American offered 12 flights a day to Chicago, the company may reduce that to 11.

“It’s relatively invisible to the customer,” he said, while still achieving the needed savings.

American recently announced its first round of schedule changes, but flights to Oklahoma City and Tulsa were not affected. The airline will announce more cuts soon, Smith said.

Some changes will be seen Although travelers will probably still be able to fly where they want to go, they may notice some changes. Finding cheap deals and flights to prime destinations will become more difficult, McAdoo said, as airlines fill flights with full-price fares. Redeeming frequent flier miles will also be tougher.

The nation’s most popular vacation destinations are expected to experience the most losses in service. Some flights to Honolulu, Orlando, Las Vegas and other sites will disappear, according to an analysis of preliminary fall airline schedules.

Flights to major cities like Chicago, Dallas and Denver will probably always be plentiful.

“In every airline, there are certain routes that are a main piece to their business,” McAdoo said. “Nothing will change there.”

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