Airfares up by highest amount in 15 years
Earlier this morning USAToday announced that consumer prices increased sharply in May due to inflation. In that, USAToday announced that airfares are up by its highest amount in 15 years.
Consumer prices last month posted their sharpest increase in 15 months as inflation continued a recent acceleration from unusually low levels.
Airline fares jumped 5.8%, the highest increase in 15 years.
The consumer price index jumped 0.4% after rising 0.3% in April, the Labor Department said Tuesday. Economists had expected a 0.2% increase.
Although inflation can be blamed for the increase in airfare, I also tend to shift blame to the mergers of United-Continental, Delta-Northwest, and American-US Airways. Oligopolies do not aid in keeping prices low and it can be a direct result as to why the spike in prices for the airline industry is higher than the other industries.
