US Airline
The US airline industry is the world’s largest and busiest airline industry. Every day, millions of people take domestic US flights on US based airline carriers. Despite the popularity of air travel, however, the US airline industry has struggled to make a profit since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Major US Airlines
Within the US airline industry, there are several major players, like US Airways, Continental, American Airlines, Northwest Airlines, and Delta. In addition to these major domestic US airlines, over the past decade, several low cost air carriers have challenged the major airlines. Low cost carriers like Southwest and JetBlue offer cheap airfares and more flexible tickets to customers and have become serious competition to the more traditional major US airlines. Major carriers have been forced to cut their prices in response to the budget US airlines.

Searching For A Profit
The airline industry is notoriously difficult to make a profit in, even during the best of times. In the direct aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the US airline industry saw the worst of times. People stopped flying en masse in the wake of attacks, fearful of another attack. The US airline industry lost billions of dollars as planes sat empty or flew with very few passengers. In response, US airlines looked for ways to cut costs. The “fringe benefits” of flying, like drinks, meals, snacks, and free movies began to fall by the wayside and were replaced with pay services. While these changes were unpopular with customers, slowly but surely, passengers returned to flying, until eventually, passenger numbers surpassed pre-9/11 levels. This surge in passengers, however, has not helped the airlines dig themselves out of the massive debt they fell into post 9/11.

Rising Ticket Costs
The next problem to hit the US airline industry has been increasing fuel costs. The increased price of oil leads to increased prices of jet fuel. These rising costs of operation for the airlines have translated to increased ticket costs for passengers. Increased ticket costs are a special concern for major US carriers who are competing for business with the low cost carriers. If operation costs continue to rise, several major US airlines are flirting with bankruptcy.