Fuel prices prompt Skybus to cut some West Coast flights

High fuel prices are taking their toll on fares and flights. The Columbus Dispatch reports that discount airline Skybus is axing flights to Oakland (OAK). One key reason is fuel costs.

The Dispatch quotes a Skybus spokesman as saying that the same factors that prompted the Columbus-based carrier to cut flights to Bellingham, Washington (BLI) and San Diego (SAN) caused it to drop Oakland.

Skybus is putting its airplanes where it thinks they can make the most money, and right now that means beefing up the discount airline’s East Coast route system.

Skybus isn’t the first airline to cut either routes or flight frequencies in the face of daunting fuel prices, now the No. 1 cost for U.S. airlines. Seating capacity across the domestic airways is dropping, even as airlines add to the number of “higher-yield” international flights they’re lofting. International flights tend to make more money for airlines for a number of reasons. One of those reasons is the demand for seats to such trading partners as India and China.

© Cheapflights Ltd Jerry Chandler