Aero-politics: June 2008 Archives

Our friend Kevin Mitchell has spent the week warning of an end to service at many airports as the fuel crisis continues. He's even set up a website, savemyairport.com. Kevin testified the other day before the House Small Business Committee hearing that was probing how the airline crisis is hurting businesses everywhere such as travel agencies, hotels and others. But Mitchell's warnings have drawn a response; our friend Jay Campbell, in a post on his blog The Beat, questioned "BTC's hyperbole," a entry in which he quote several folks including yours truly.

But one of the most interesting responses comes from our friend (isn't it good to have so many friends?) Kristie van Auken, the Akron/Canton airport's indefatigable (that means tireless) communicator. Kristie, who has her own blog, says that Mitchell listed her airport as one of about 150 that are threatened by cutbacks.

Suddenly sympathetic, a persistent critic of the airlines is taking his case, and theirs, to Capitol Hill. Although Kevin Mitchell of the Business Travel Coalition is a frequent visitor to the Congress, he's usually there to chastise the airlines if not to condemn them. But in recent days, Mitchell has become somewhat of a Cassandra, warning not of the crisis that's coming but of the one that's here and now. The other day, he released a series of studies by Airline Forecasts that predicted a possible series of liquidations in the airline industry. The top 25 carriers will spend over $28 billion more for fuel this year, and the major airlines could lose up to $9 billion over the next 12 months, says the head of the forecasting firm, professional airline pilot Vaughn Cordle.