| Online air ticket vendors are vying with one another | | | | airline is offering a winter clearance sale with New |
| to offer travelers cheap fares to New Orleans. This | | | | Orleans on its list of destinations, others, with their |
| is one of the economic implications of a city getting | | | | new ramped up service, are flying at roughly 80% |
| wiped out by a hurricane. Travelers have been less | | | | the capacity they flew at pre-hurricane. Less than a |
| inclined to visit New Orleans and need some sort of | | | | half year after the hurricane, Louis Armstrong airport |
| incentive to pick it as a destination. | | | | has reached 50% of its pre-disaster passenger |
| However, this seems at odds with news reports of | | | | service. |
| rising travel costs due to fluctuating gas prices, | | | | In general, consumer's insight into the affordability of |
| among other things, post-Katrina. Surveys conducted | | | | travel revealed that they found it to be infeasible |
| have shown that consumer confidence was low, and | | | | given high travel costs. The number of pleasure trips |
| swiftly escalating gas and travel costs impacted the | | | | taken were also seen to be sagging, based on |
| Travel Industry of America's (TIA) last quarter of | | | | consumer's perceptions of their own financial |
| 2005 Traveler Sentiment Index by a negative 6% | | | | situations. Additionally, the quality of service rendered |
| from the preceding quarter and a negative 13% from | | | | while traveling was observed to be poor this quarter. |
| a year ago to an unparalleled, all-time low of 83.8%. | | | | While these trends are a cause for concern, they |
| On the other hand, there is also news of the Louis | | | | may not linger around long enough to seriously impact |
| Armstrong New Orleans International Airport | | | | travel. The recent decline in gasoline prices as well as |
| kick-starting 2006 with increased passenger service. | | | | news of renewed customer confidence may well put |
| Some airlines have added non-stop flights to existing | | | | an end to these negative tendencies. |
| schedules, for as little as $69 one-way. While one | | | | |