Air Canada today announced a large round of lay-offs, of which many will be pilots. AC cited high oil prices.There's a thought by some that this is management scare tactic because contracts will be coming up for renegotiation soon, and they need a pretext to start demanding concessions.My personal feeling is that things are going to get very interesting over the next year...(By the way, I'm now paying about $1.90 US per liter for my car, which I think works out to over $7 per US gallon :-( )I don't necessary blame this on greedy oil companies. I'm more inclined to assign it on Chinese and Indians who want to start consuming like westerners.-Bryan

Bryan- As a contrast, WestJet (Air Canada's competition) says they plan to ADD some routes in coming months and anticipate no further fuel surcharge for the present. West Jet has an informal motto re utilization- "Use us or Lose us".Remarkble what Employee Ownership and operating only one aircraft type (737NG) can do for the bottom line.Alex Reid

Southwest, US' sister airline to WestJet, is also fairing well as of this day by using the same methods. Funny that the airlines that started as low cost airlines are weathering this economic storm better than it's "first class" counterparts. It helps to know what your strenghts and weaknesses are.

Could be a very interesting year indeed. At this rate Ultimate Traffic's next update should only take a few seconds to download...........the deletion of airlines could take little longer though,http://www.ft.com/cms/s/1/0c36577c-3ea4-11...00779fd2ac.html

I take it Southwest and Westjet hedged their fuel while it was still relatively cheap?It's so hard to say where all this will end. It's too bad because the airlines where just starting to make a profit, and now it appears they're about to get hammered again in a very big way by surging fuel costs and slowing global economy.I guess it's just a reminder that all booms usually end badly.Even the Royal Bank of Scotland seems to be saying so...http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtm...18/cnrbs118.xmlBryan

>I don't necessary blame this on greedy oil companies. I'm>more inclined to assign it on Chinese and Indians who want to>start consuming like westerners.>>>-Bryan>And, as we are discovering, their governments heavily subsidize the price of gasoline, which keeps demand much higher than it would be otherwise. I'd be interested in what they're paying after subsidies per gallon in USD.

United just announced they are furloughing 950 pilots...14% of their pilot inventory. This really is the beginning of a real disaster for the airlines, and for the economy and nation as a whole.The price of energy is wreacking havoc in an economy that was designed for cheap energy costing less than half the current price. How we have structured our cities, the exurban sprawl, the vehicles we drive on borrowed money, the monstrous houses we live in on borrowed money, the fabulously expensive college educations we finance with borrowed money...it's all becoming a massive sustainment challenge that many, many Americans will eventually lose.Debt is the real enemy before us, and the enemy is everywhere we turn, living with us, sleeping with us, and now dominating us. We did this to ourselves, not the Chinese or the Indians. The solution is no further away than what it takes for us to live within our means.On a happy note, the problems with air traffic congestion are about to take a giant step towards resolving themselves...RegardsBob ScottATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VSantiago de Chile

<>>On a happy note, the problems with air traffic congestion are about to take a giant step towards resolving themselves...Now thats what I call Positive thinking!!!!!!!

Well, the Chinese just lifted some of their subsidy, and from what I gather the Chinese took it in stride.As mentioned, I pay about $7 USD per gallon, and there are still a ton of cars and SUVs on the road here.I know that's a very sweeping and very simple generalization, but people need oil and I think we will keep buying it regardless of the price. People will just make cuts elsewhere.It's like food and water almost. You have to have it regardless of what it costs.Bryan

And one area where people are cutting expenses is travel, especially air travel. Which has become both expensive and annoying at the same time. Unfortunately this decrease in ait travel will further increase the airline woes and cause even more furloughs in the near future. It's going to be a viscious domino effect for some time to come.John

I feel sorry for the young guys and gals who have spent or borrowed so much money getting the licenses and certificates needed to become airline pilots. Many of them have very large student loans to be paid off, too. Sad. --Roger

Expensive air travel is a real problem here in Hawaii.IMHO the problem is the depreciation of the US dollar. If you look at countries that devalued their currencies, runaway commodity inflation has been the normal result.scott s..