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MILWAUKEE - Airlines may be paying
dramatically more for fuel this year than last, but Milwaukee-area
travelers are being charged only a little more for flights out of
Gen. Mitchell International Airport, experts say.
The cost of fuel has risen about 60
percent in the past year alone, Midwest Airlines Senior Vice
President Scott Dickson said Thursday. However, Dickson, speaking at
a Milwaukee event hosted by the Public Policy Forum, said airlines
have to a large degree been forced to swallow that expense.
He said fuel now constitutes about 40 percent of airlines’ cost of
doing business, something that was unthinkable a few years ago.
"It’s probably a bigger shock to airlines’ systems than
what happened after 9-11," he said of soaring oil prices.
While fares out of Mitchell have risen slightly since 2006, Dickson
said they’re still comparable to what passengers paid back in
2000.
For
full story, go to the electronic version of The Freeman. Click
here to access the electronic version.
Daniel Kurt can be reached at dkurt@conleynet.com
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