Airlines, Fuel | featured news

Falling oil prices are typically good news for airlines as fuel accounts for more than a third of their operating costs, but not all carriers are benefiting due to fuel hedging.

Delta Air Lines said on Monday that it will buy a refinery near Philadelphia in the hope of slicing $300 million a year from its jet fuel bill.

American Airlines' parent company is seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as it seeks to unload massive debt built up by years of accelerating jet fuel prices and labor struggles.

Airlines are getting rid of these planes — their least-efficient — in response to the high cost of fuel. Delta, United Continental, and other big airlines are expected to park, scrap or sell hundreds of jets with 50 seats or fewer in coming years. Small propeller planes are meeting the same fate.

United Airlines flew the first U.S. commercial passengers Monday on a Boeing 737-824 powered partly with Honeywell biofuel made from algae, a Honeywell subsidiary announced. Flight 1403, scheduled to arrive in Chicago's O'Hare airport at 1:00 p.m. CST from Houston, used a blend of petroleum-based jet fuel and aviation biofuel made from algal-oil, provided by Solazyme, according to Honeywell's UOP.

The European Commission fined 11 airlines a total of $1.11 billion for forming a global cartel to fix air-freight tariffs, mainly fuel surcharges.

Last summer's spike in aviation fuel prices led to the highest average U.S. air fare in 13 years at $362 during the third quarter of 2008, a federal report states.