Last week, two major U.S. airline carriers dramatically cut back operations because of soaring fuel costs. On Thursday, Continental Airlines became the latest carrier to scale back operations due to rising fuel bills, cutting 3,000 jobs and reducing capacity by 11 percent (the job cuts at Continental represent about 6.5 percent of the carrier's total staff). Continental's fuel bill will be $2.3 billion more this year than in 2007, it said, with ticket price increases not enough to offset the 75 percent hike in jet fuel costs.
Meanwhile, United Airlines decided to ground 100 of its planes and cut between 900 and 1,100 jobs, in addition to 500 already announced lay-offs. It blamed the decision on the need to cope with the spiraling cost of fuel and a weakening domestic economy. That will decrease the second-largest U.S. carrier’s capacity by almost 20 percent.
If your summer vacation plans include air travel, I hope you already have your ticket booked! Thanks to the soaring cost of jet fuel and the drastic reduction in airline capacity, airfares have nowhere to go but up – way up.
But airfares still don’t represent the true cost of flying: the enormous carbon emissions footprint created by burning jet fuel, particularly during take-off and landing. Although air travel represents only 3 percent of the nation’s total carbon footprint, there are things that we can do to mitigate its impact and to provide cleaner, more convenient alternatives.
To start with, there are alternatives to flying short distances: rail, and high-speed rail in particular. Progressive Future supports a significant expansion of rail. Just last week, I took a train from New York City to Washington, D.C. It was faster, cheaper and far more pleasant than flying on the costly, crowded and polluting Delta and U.S. Airways shuttles. And that rail experience is set to improve if enough Congresspersons in the House act soon to co-sponsor two great bills that will fully fund existing passenger rail services and expand high-speed rail development. (Tomorrow, we’ll be bringing you an action that shows you how to mobilize to get your member of Congress to co-sponsor this legislation.)
Of course, for cities like Denver, air travel is a lifeline for business and tourism. One policy wonk notes that even the fastest bullet train rail would still take 6 hours to get from Denver to Chicago. So what does this mean in the long run? It means that we need to support the development of clean, alternative jet fuels – and continue to fund rail as an alternative to flying.
We’ll be unveiling tomorrow another, second action to ask House Appropriations Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY) to lead the charge to fully fund the New Starts program for new rail and mass transit.
As the Economist pointed out last week, the current oil crisis might likely finally force us to invest in alternative, sustainable fuels. Until then, let’s continue to build and re-build our rail systems.
- Hugh
