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- <text id=89TT3355>
- <title>
- Dec. 25, 1989: Business Notes:Airlines
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1989
- Dec. 25, 1989 Cruise Control:Tom Cruise
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- BUSINESS, Page 69
- Business Notes
- AIRLINES
- Flying the Costly Skies
- </hdr><body>
- <p> U.S. airline fares are behaving like a jetliner climbing
- out of a tailspin. After tumbling some 12% since 1981, the cost
- of flying has risen by about 10% in the past three years and by
- around 6% so far this year, even though passenger traffic has
- been flat. The price hikes have stirred the suspicion of the
- Justice Department, which launched an antitrust investigation
- into possible collusion among the nation's major airlines. The
- Justice probe is seeking to determine whether the fare hikes
- were economically justified or the airlines acted in concert to
- raise prices.
- </p>
- <p> The investigation was triggered by the announcement on
- Sept. 18 of an American Airlines fare increase. Within several
- days, eight other carriers, including United and TWA, followed
- suit. The airlines deny the possibility of collusion, insisting
- that fare decisions are made independently. But critics charge
- that the carriers use their sophisticated computerized
- reservation systems to signal pricing intentions to rivals.
- </p>
-
- </body></article>
- </text>
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