End of the line for cheap flights?

Cheap flights are not a stand-alone product in the same way that ‘buy one get one free’ (or ‘BOGOF’) is not a stand-alone product, it is an add-on. Cheap flights can only exist alongside a healthy travel industry that is selling plenty of prime-priced products.
The decline of the travel industry, reduced profitability and rocketing fuel prices will no doubt put severe strain on cheap flight availability. Ryanair have already announced an 85% drop in profits and is predicting a loss or at best a break-even scenario at the end of the year. The blame is being firmly put at the feet of rising fuel costs, but is probably also attributable to a lack of spending and other credit crunch issues affecting people’s decisions to buy flights.