What Do Falling Fuel Costs Mean for Aviation?

摘要

On the way to work this morning I stopped to fill my car with gas. I filled my tank for just over $30. Was I in a time warp? We have not seen gas prices this low for about a decade - except for the short-lived gas price dip in 2008. And some experts are saying this is not a short-lived phenomenon. What does a significant drop in gas prices mean to the transportation industry, and specifically to the aviation industry? Over the past few years, fuel costs have been around 28 percent of an airline's operating costs. At the end of 2014, as falling fuel prices continued, investment chatter rallied around buying airline stocks. But as the fear that significantly lower gas prices could be linked to a slowing of the economy, along with lower than expected passenger levels for some airlines in December, the market has yet to decide what significantly lower fuel prices mean for the commercial aviation environment.