|
20 June 2008, Sydney
Major airlines may shut down 'within 6 months'
This is the dire prediction from the CEO of Virgin Blue
airlines, Brett Godfrey, who told Australian television that
high oil prices are going to force some major airlines around
the world to close within six months.
Mr Godfrey said the airline industry was never designed to
handle fuel costs as high as $165 USD a barrel, and the
situation is far worse now than it was during recent aviation
crises... Today's crisis is far worse than that experienced
during the SARS epidemic or after September 11.
Virgin Blue and Australia's national airline, Qantas, have
both increased their fares and pared back their costs in an
attempt to ride out the continually-rising cost of aviation
fuel.
If the fuel price stays where it is, said Mr Godfrey, I'm
convinced you'll see one of the major US airlines (which form
five of the top-ten in the world) going out of business by
Christmas 2008.
However, he says there is no need for job cuts unless fuel
costs keep on rising.
Our competitors have already made statements that they're
going to have to shelve planes and put people out of work, he
said.
So far, we have been able to prevent that, he said. But he
also made a dire prediction. "No-one is going to be unaffected
if fuel hits $200 USD a barrel... Not one single company in
Australia that uses fuel as an input is going to be
unaffected."
|