Southwest sets off further fare cuts

Associated Press

DALLAS — Southwest Airlines touched off a new round of fare cuts yesterday as carriers try to combat sluggish demand this summer and fall.

Since April, Dallas-based Southwest, the nation's largest low-fare carrier, has seen traffic drop from last year's levels. It responded yesterday by cutting fares by up to half.

The fares apply to seven-day advance-purchase tickets for travel on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Tickets must be bought by July 16 for travel through Dec. 8.

The leading carrier, Fort Worth, Texas-based American Airlines, said it matched Southwest's fares of $78 to $198 round-trip on routes flown by both carriers.

By late yesterday, most other major carriers had also matched the reductions, at least on selected routes, said Tom Parsons, editor of Bestfares.com, a discount travel Web site.

"It leads me to believe their bookings are still soft," he said. "They hate this sale with a passion, but because of the economic pressures they'll be forced to match it."

Among those cutting prices was Comair, which hoped to win back travelers who went elsewhere during a pilots' strike that shut the airline down for three months. The Delta Air Lines-owned regional carrier announced a new program of discounts up to 60 percent off 21-day advance purchase fares for travel during Comair's first week of operation, through July 8.

U.S. airlines are facing their toughest market in years. Of the largest carriers, only Southwest and Houston-based Continental have made profits this year. The economic slowdown has caused companies to reduce travel and buy lower-priced advance-purchase tickets. The airlines are also dealing with stubbornly high jet-fuel prices.

Analysts said the fare reductions were not surprising. Earlier this week, Delta began offering discounts of up to 20 percent for round-trip tickets bought online, an offer matched by several other carriers.