The future of the airline industry, at this moment appears to be very bleak. The surging price of fuel is playing a significant role in the planning of flight schedules, ticket prices, and overall service. In order to survive airlines need to become more lean and mean. Some airlines are now charging for checking in bags. Airlines are cutting services every where they can. Where one day you would get one alcoholic beverage for free, today you would have to pay for a coke. Airlines are so desperate to cut their fuel bill, they are stripping everything they feel is unnecessary like in flight entertainment systems, magazines, and microwaves.
This is a unique challenge for the airlines. Unlike after September 11th when demand was low and gas was cheap, airlines could lower ticket prices to stimulate demand and improve in flight services to attract customers. Now even with record loads airlines still can't cope with fuel at 135 dollars a barrel and raising. Airlines have few choices and its harder to wiggle out of this situation then crises before. Airlines can either merge with other airlines and consolidate their routes in order to create a stronger and bigger airline like Delta and Northwest did. Stand alone, raise ticket prices, infuriate the consumer and hope for oil prices to drop; or cease operations all together.
The future of the airline industry may very well depend on the fact that competing airlines today unite into a few large conglomerates. When airlines merge, the consumer is the one who suffers. With mergers between airlines, various problems evolve such as the discontinuing of certain departure and arrival cities, competitive air fares are eliminated and the service provided could in fact diminish, due to the fact that the new airline, after the merger, has no immediate competition.
Bankruptcy for an airline creates a situation for the consumer that is not always in the best interest of the passenger. Although the airline may continue to operate after filing bankruptcy, the fares that are charged to the consumer are not always determined by the airline. The entire operation of the airline is subject to approval of the bankruptcy board and as such, prices, flight times and even flight destinations are now governed by someone other than directly related to the airlines.
Bankruptcy for the airlines as an entire business is doubtful, for there will always be travelers going from destination to destination; however, what the final appearance of the airline industry will look like after the mergers and bankruptcies is still uncertain.
The future of the airlines has so much to do with outside influence of the airlines, that there will be more mergers and bankruptcies in the future, it is just a matter of which airline and when the inevitable will happen.