This Week's Herman Trend Alert Women---Expanding their Sphere of Influence

The Herman Trend Alert June 18, 2008 The Near-Term Future of Air Travel United States citizens are beginning to avoid air travel in significant numbers. This fact is in part responsible for the airlines announcing substantial cutbacks in service to a wide variety of US cities. Across the globe, airlines that expected to earn sizeable profits this year will instead have gigantic losses. . . in the billions. The secretary general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Giovanni Bisignani recently said, "The industry is in crisis, perhaps the biggest crisis we have ever faced." (IATA members account for over 90 percent of air travel worldwide.) According to a survey commissioned by the Travel Industry Association (TIA), US citizens are looking for ways to stay away from air travel because of higher fares, security hassles, and chronic schedule and service disruptions. Ask frequent flyers and they will tell you that not only is air travel not "fun" anymore, but it is a downright chore. The member airlines of the IATA face losses of USD$2.3 billion in 2008, due to sky high fuel costs. Moreover, it was only a few weeks ago that the organization forecast profits of USD$4.5 billion (2.9 billion euros) for the industry. However, oil prices topping USD$135 a barrel turned their profit projections into huge losses. After recovering from the enormous losses resulting from the 2001 September 11 attacks (about USD$40 billion), the industry finally posted profits of USD$5.6 billion dollars last year. The TIA study found that travelers avoided 41 million trips over the past few months. These trips cost the US economy USD$26.5 billion over the past year, including lost ticket sales and travel-related business expenses, and lost tax revenue. These reductions in trips, the increasing fuel costs, and the slowing US economy are the basis for virtually all of the US airlines decreasing their numbers of flights, even to popular vacation destinations like Honolulu, Las Vegas, and Orlando. Expect more cuts and service disruptions, as airlines get rid of experienced employees to hire lower cost contractors in a misguided effort to reduce expenses. These reductions in service will also affect the attractiveness of US destinations to foreign tourists. © Copyright 1998- by The Herman Group, Inc. -- reproduction for publication is encouraged, with the following attribution: From "The Herman Trend Alert," by Roger Herman and Joyce Gioia, Strategic Business Futurists. (800) 227-3566 or http://www.hermangroup.com. The Herman Trend Alert is a trademark of The Herman Group, Inc." EMPLOYERS AND JOBSEEKERS: MARK YOUR CALENDARS Advertise at or attend VetJobs Virtual Career Fairs. VetJobs, the top veterans' job board, and PSI, the premier diversity job fair producer, are teaming up to launch these VeteransCONNECT events. Employer registration is now open with loading by February 15th. Candidate loading begins March 1st. Expect 25-30 employers and an attendee goal of 2,000 skilled jobseekers. Promoted extensively, early registration begins NOW. To register or request additional information, contact VetJobs at 877-838-5627 or email info@vetjobs.com; Employers: Mention the Herman Trend Alert to receive a Bonus. LOOKING FOR A UNIQUE VALENTINE’S GIFT? Give the gift of leadership advice in our weekly Lessons in Leadership to help your supervisors and managers remind your leaders about what’s really important The 52-week subscription is only $47, a bargain when you think about the savings to your organization in reduced turnover. Quantity discounts available by emailing Joyce at joyce@hermangroup.com. http://www.hermangroup.com/store/subscription_all.html#3 Order today! PREVENT EMPLOYEE TURNOVER IN 2012 Yes, you can prevent costly employee turnover, when you train your supervisors, managers, and executives. They will learn dozens of low and no-cost strategies and tactics that they can implement right away. We have an impressive track record and stand ready to help you. Call Carl at 336-210-3547 for a no-obligation conference call. Herman Trend Alerts are produced by the Herman Group, strategic business futurists, Certified Management Consultants, authors, and professional speakers. New subscribers are welcome. There is no charge for this public service. The Herman Trend Alert is received by over 30,000 subscribers in 78 countries, in addition to other websites and printed magazines. Do you enjoy receiving this weekly e-mail update? Contact us about our co-branded Trend Alert service. Click here to sign up for the Herman Trend Alert. Subscribe or Unsubscribe to weekly Herman Trend Alert View this week's Herman Trend Alert Archived Weekly Herman Trend Alerts

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