US airlines, bruised by higher fuel prices, are stepping up efforts to raise fares and increase fees to avoid a third straight year of declining profits. “Carriers have struggled to keep pace with the rising cost of fuel, among many others,” John Heimlich, chief economist of Airlines for America, a trade group, said Wednesday. “I can assure you carriers are looking at every aspect of their revenue arsenals and cost elements to try to right the ship.” Such initiatives are increasingly apparent as the summer travel season winds down. Southwest is charging more for early boarding on some flights. JetBlue Airways became the first major US carrier to raise fees on the first checked bag to $30. Business fares climbed 8% this week from a year earlier, even as ticket prices for leisure travel were little changed, said Susan Donofrio, a Macquarie Group analyst. “Airlines are going to start targeting ancillary revenue, the baggage fees and all the other stuff, along with base fare increases as we head into the fall,” Donofrio said. Investors have been betting that the push will bear fruit after dumping airline shares during H1. A Standard & Poor’s index of the five biggest US airlines has extended gains in August after jumping 11% in July, the biggest monthly gain since late 2016. The gauge was little changed Wednesday.<br/>
general
FAA, in its fourth round of US airport infrastructure grants for 2018, has released an additional $616.9m in funding, lifting the total airport improvement program (AIP) awards announced year-to-date to $2.7b. A total of $3.2b in AIP allotments will be distributed this year. US airports are entitled to a certain amount of AIP grants every year, based on passenger volume, activity levels and project needs. Discretionary funds are provided as supplements if an airport’s capital project exceeds its entitlement. Notable in this round is $79.9m in discretionary funding, on top of $13.1m in entitlement funds, awarded to Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD), which at a total of $93m makes ORD’s AIP grant the largest awarded as a single announcement for the 2018 cycle. The US Department of Transportation (DOT) said the latest round of 242 AIP grants to 226 US airports will fund 408 infrastructure projects.<br/>
Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international travellers, recorded a 1.8% rise in passenger traffic in July, its operator said Wednesday. Dubai airport, the hub of airlines Emirates and flydubai, handled 8.2m passengers last month, compared with 8.06m a year earlier. It was the airport’s second busiest month ever after August 2017, when 8.23m passengers used the airport, said operator Dubai Airports. For the seven months to July 31, passenger traffic was up 1.6% to 51.9m. The airport has seen passenger traffic slow this year after 15 years of strong increases. Cargo handled at the airport rose 4.8% to 223,488 tonnes in July and in the first seven months of the year was down 1.6% to 1.5m tonnes. <br/>
There can be few more irritating people than your fellow airplane passengers -- but apparently there's still a chance you'll fall in love with them. A new study from British bank HSBC suggests that 1 in 50 airplane passengers meet the love of their life on board an aircraft. The other 49, presumably, just annoy the heck out of each other as they travel. The results came from interviews with 2,150 people from 141 countries in which participants were asked about the likelihood of meeting "the one" while cooped up in a metal tube 30,000 feet in the sky. Some 6,000 people from Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, the United States and the United Kingdom were additionally also quizzed on their flying habits. In the advent of the Jet Age, when air travel went global, airline posters played up the glamour -- and romantic frisson -- of aviation. The idea of air travel as a romantic affair was propagated in the alluring travel posters of the 1960s. Story has more background.<br/>