Good times for airlines rarely endure

Sydney

AIRLINES have been in unfamiliar territory of late: They have been earning money for their investors. Don't count on it lasting.

Antitrust officials are investigating whether US airlines are fixing prices, even as they inch towards a market-share war. Ryanair Holdings plc predicts that cheap fuel will stimulate "irrational price competition" among European carriers later this year. Qantas Airways Ltd is paying a A$90 million (S$90.8 million) bonus to staff whose industrial action grounded its fleet in 2011. And with tremors from China and Greece spooking markets, the Bloomberg World Airlines Index has fallen more than 10 per cent, meeting one definition of a market correction.

It is all a reminder that good times for airlines rarely endure. Carriers generate the slimmest returns for their investors of 29 industries worldwide, according to the International Air Transport A…