Mideast turmoil spikes air ticket prices

Air fares are going up, up and away.

Political turmoil in the Middle East, most recently in Libya, is to blame for the spike in airline ticket prices, airfare watchdogs and aviation analysts said Thursday.

Even low-cost airlines are charging more, including Southwest, which flies out of Long Island MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma, experts said.

Since January, the average price of a round-trip ticket has increased $20 to $60, said Rick Seaney, chief executive of FareCompare.com, a website that checks the price of tickets on domestic routes nearly 30 times a day.

"The flip side is the fuel prices have almost doubled in the last three months," Seaney said.

A year ago, airfare between New York and Los Angeles for a traveler buying the least expensive walk-up fare was about $427 one way. Today, the same ticket is about $596 -- $169 more - now including a $10 fuel charge. For those buying an advance ticket, the N.Y.-L.A. trip costs $60 more, an increase of about 30 percent, Parsons said.

Some predict prices will continue to rise into the summer. After winter storms cost them revenue, airlines will have to "increase fares as much as they can" to stay in the black, said Julius Maldutis, an airline analyst.

Rising fuel prices come just as the business outlook for airlines has improved, Maldutis said.

"If problems in the Middle East continue, oil prices will stay at these prices, or go even higher," Maldutis said. "The airlines could end up with a lost year when they were in a position to have a profitable year."

Oil prices had been hovering around $80 a barrel, but jumped to $100 a barrel last week, and topped $120 in Europe, Seaney said.

The jump in fuel prices brings back memories of late 2008, when oil zoomed to nearly $150 a barrel, airlines scrambled to cut costs and grounded scores of planes, said Tom Parsons, chief executive of BestFares.com.

John Heimlich, chief economist of the Air Transport Association, which represents the big U.S. airlines, said carriers can cut nonfuel costs, they can upgrade to more fuel-efficient planes or they can raise fares.

As fuel prices rise, Heimlich said, more flights will become unprofitable -- and candidates for elimination.

"We will have to cut service, and we would rather not do that," he said.

At MacArthur Airport Thursday, travelers said they are noticing higher prices to fly.

While business travelers said rising ticket prices have not affected their plans, people returning from personal trips said they are searching long and hard for affordable tickets, and scheduling trips when fares are cheaper.

Dora Anthony, 69, of Fort Lauderdale, said she searched online for 10 days to find a return ticket from Chicago, where she was visiting her son.

"It was over $350, one way," she said. "One way? Unbelievable. You're not going to be able to travel, really, with these prices." Finally, she nabbed a ticket on Southwest for $99.

Tony Hassig, 39, of West Islip, a sales director for Dow Jones, said he flew with his wife and two young daughters to Disney World on a Wednesday and returned on a Thursday, saving the family $600 to $700.

"I book in advance, so I got pretty good deals," he said.

With Jennifer Maloney