If only suitcases were all the baggage America’s airlines had to carry. Unfortunately, fuel is the big burden weighing down aircraft. American Airlines’ decision to slash domestic capacity and sting customers with extra luggage charges is just the latest attempt to counter the surging cost of oil. It will not be the last.

Nymex crude oil, currently nudging $134 a barrel, has averaged $105 so far in 2008. If it maintains that level for the rest of the year, the total fuel bill for America’s top 11 airlines would rise by 39 per cent to more than $43bn, based on CreditSights’ estimates. To put that incremental cost in perspective, it would, all else being equal, eat up more than half the cash sitting on the airlines’ balance sheets at the end of the first quarter.