Originally Posted by Explorer8939
If airline gas is really, really expensive, wouldn't UAL be smart to start up a route to some MidEast country where gas is cheap, because the cheaper fuel would allow profitability even if the plane isn't completely full? JFK to Mecca, fill up the tanks there are 20 cents a gallon, come back quarter full and still make a profit.
Or otherwise, route flights using a virtual hub in some place like Qatar, to take advantage of cheap gas.
Cheap oil doesn't mean cheap Jet Fuel (aka, kerosene). You need refineries to do that and they are not *that* plentiful in the middle east. Besides, you'd still need to transport the fuel back to make something off of it.
UA does "ferry" fuel from cheaper locations to more expensive ones. And I think all of the airlines have been petitioning to reduce the required reserve fuel levels as well to avoid trucking around a bunch of "unused" fuel.