Despite continued demand from passengers, airports -- including the University Park Airport -- are facing problems because of the rising price of fuel.
The price of jet fuel has jumped 70 percent since 2007, according to the Air Transport Association. Airlines are doing everything they can to make up for the high prices, including cutting jobs and discontinuing service.
University Airport has not gotten away unscathed.
Delta Air Lines discontinued flights to Atlanta in May, and will be ending all service out of State College effective Sept. 1, said Bryan Rodgers, director of the University Park Airport.
"The airplanes are full of people, but they're still not making enough money," he said.
Delta is not the only airline to make cutbacks. American Airlines announced in June its plan to cut about 8 percent of its workforce -- nearly 7,000 employees -- by the end of 2008, citing high fuel prices as the cause.
Industry experts don't see fuel prices decreasing any time soon, but a proposed merger between Delta and Northwest Airlines, which came about as an attempt to find an efficient business model, may help the industry, Rogers said.
"It may be a good thing as long as it results in a stronger airline," Rogers said.
The University Park Airport, the Centre County Airport Authority and the university are working on ways to solve the problem of rising fuel, but Rogers would not say specifically how, only saying a "proposal" has been submitted to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Shielvy Wong (senior-nutrition), from Santa Monica, Calif., has made the more than 2,000-mile journey to State College several times during the last three years and said she has seen a hike in ticket prices. According to the Air Transport Association, passengers pay 15.26 cents per mile traveled. That number has been steadily increasing since 2004 when passengers paid 12.79 cents per mile.
"They've definitely gone up. I try to book tickets six months or a year ahead of time to save money," she said.
The long distance and high prices keep Wong from flying often, but she can't avoid it all the time.
"I don't really have a choice sometimes," she said. "The dorms kick you out during the holidays."
