The following statements from this mornings Houston Chronicle seem
to indiate that we might get a little break on airfare in the coming
months. I know that good fares have been hard to get, and I had to
burn a R/R ticket to go to Vegas last month. It seems that every
flight I take from Houston to LV is very nearly 100% full.
"Low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines said today that first-
quarter earnings nearly tripled, citing higher traffic in March,
cost cutting and successful financial management of fuel costs....
Southwest said it began the year with weak revenue trends, but that
the timing of the Easter holiday in March led to a record monthly
load factor of 73.7 percent. The airline said that bookings for May
and June are "satisfactory," but that the holiday timing is hurting
April traffic and load factors. It is likely that second-quarter
load factors will fall short of year-ago record levels, and the
company said it is unable to predict whether it will have favorable
passenger unit revenue comparisons for the period.
The company expects 2006 available seat mile growth of about 7
percent, based on expected order deliveries."