How Much Will You Pay To Fly?

Four stories on the aviation front:

No damage to Discovery?

The AP reports our astronauts have yet found no damage to the shuttle Discovery. Discovery's delicate heat shield and everything else appear at first glance to be in near perfect shape, NASA officials said, although it's still very early in the analysis.

To me, this sounds a bit like NASA hedging its bet. I would want a much more thorough analysis. Engineers are nowhere near finished poring over 70 minutes of video that astronauts shot using an extended boom armed with a laser and cameras to inspect Discovery's delicate reinforced carbon wing and nosecone.

Boeing set to beat Airbus for the first time in five years:

Airbus has definitive orders for 145 to 150 aircraft so far this year. In May it had 105 orders. Boeing has three times as many with 445 (358 in May).

The Airbus monster A380, at $170 million each, has no orders; Boeing's comparable model, the 747-8, at $150 million each, has nineteen orders.

I wrote about the A380 last year; having been a regular flyer since January of this year, I am incredibly aware of boarding and deplaning times for a standard Southwest 737-300. Not only will the A380 demand entirely new terminal accommodations due to its size, but will require massive amounts of time and tolerance for those 555 persons deigning to enter and exit such a behemoth.

The price of fuel hits $75 a barrel today:

And everything will be affected: trucking, aviation, commercial and private vehicles, railroads, shipping, textiles, manufacturing. Crude oil futures soared to all-time record highs in New York as markets were roiled by news of missile launches by North Korea and tensions over Iran, dealers said.

Over the weekend gas prices at my local ARCO ran from $2.95 to $2.99. That same station today ran at $3.03. Prices are rising immediately.

As goes Britain, so goes a like "green" aviation tax in America?

You'll be paying higher ticket prices soon, because air carriers will pass their higher fuel costs on to the customer. But will you also be seeing an aviation "green tax" in your future?

The UK Timesonline reports that because of this tax, airfares are likely to double in Europe.

AIR passengers will be charged up to £40 extra for a return ticket within Europe to pay for the environmental impact of their journeys, under plans approved by the European Parliament yesterday.

MEPs voted in favour of the “immediate introduction” of a tax on jet fuel for flights within the 25 member states of the EU. The charge would double the cost of millions of budget airline flights.

They also accepted a recommendation for a special emissions trading scheme for the aviation industry, which would see airlines buying permits to cover their output of carbon dioxide.

Now that this idea is in the public domain, can anyone guess how long it will be before an American Democrat authors a like bill?

BZ