COMPANIES Few decisions have been more perplexing for airline executives than weighing how many aeroplanes to fly but veteran executives argue the industry has had an unlikely ally: $147-a-barrel oil.
The unprecedented surge in oil prices, which peaked in July, gave carriers little choice but to retire dozens of older, less efficient aircraft. Ed Bastian, president of Delta Air Lines, predicted recently that 2009 industrywide domestic capacity will be 14 per cent below where it was last year.
