All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links.
When an airline sneezes, does the entire travel business catch a cold? Maybe. Experts say that as airlines raise fares and cut routes, they'll squeeze other businesses who depend on a constant flow of passengers to keep the money rolling in.
Tourism is one industry that's bound to be impacted. Fewer flights and higher prices will cause some travelers to forgo the big summer trip and do something closer to home (though if gas prices don't come down they might just sit home in their air conditioning).
The chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Association says the airlines' moves are putting thousands of regional jobs and billions of dollars of investment at risk. Caribbean markets are especially susceptible to the cuts, he says, because struggling American Airlines handles a majority of traffic into the region. American recently announced that it's cutting its daily flights at its San Juan hub from 93 to 51 and will no longer serve Santo Domingo, Antigua, St Maarten, Aruba, or Samana from San Juan.
And that in turn messes things up for the cruise lines. Ten ships use San Juan as their home port, and if getting to the island becomes too much of a hassle, vacationers may blow off the cruise altogether.
Vegas might also take a huge hit. Wachovia Bank thinks the airlines will reduce service into Vegas by 12 percent, resulting in 2.4 million fewer visits each year. This in a year when over 11,000 new hotel rooms will open on the strip.
There are a whole slew of other industries that depend on the airlines to keep the money flowing. Airports are watching the amount of money they collect in landing fees shrink. Rental car companies, nervous about fewer travelers flowing through airports, are opening new location in the burbs. Hotels located around airports are concerned that as passengers trade in flights for road trips, they'll choose to stay at properties further out of town. Web-based travel agencies like Orbitz are anticipating that as number of airlines shrinks through mergers, passengers will feel less need to comparison shop online.
Long suffering airline employees are facing another round of pink slips, but they're not the only ones. Employees at the companies contracted by the airlines are also likely to get the axe. And with what's left of airlines' domestic food service gone or likely to go, the kitchens that provide in-flight catering are likely to make cuts as well.
Of course, not everyone loses. Airport shops and restaurants may see fewer passengers wandering the concourse, but the ones who are there might be more likely to pay $19 for a plate of Buffalo Wings and $4 for a bottle of water before boarding their bare-bones flight.
Photo by Flickr user blmurch
