Just when the nation’s airports thought their post-9/11 recovery challenges were behind them, upheaval in the nation’s airline industry has clouded the future of many facility and airside construction programs. Months of surging oil prices, volatile credit markets, and sagging U.S. economic fortunes culminated in a summertime string of drastic service cutbacks, steep fare hikes, and other measures aimed at staunching the flow of red ink from the airlines’ balance sheets.
Although crude-oil prices had fallen below $60/barrel by November, the International Air Transport Association predicted the global airline industry’s 2008 losses would total $5.2 billion, a 180-degree reversal of last December’s forecasted industry-wide profit of $5 billion. “Carriers that had been trying to operate more efficiently are now scrambling to save a nickel,” observes Richard Marchi, senior advisor for policy and regulatory affairs for the Airports Council International-North America (ACI-NA) “They're putting pressure on airports to defer projects that don’t have to be done.”