What We're Reading

Last week we posted a blip about Bardabunga; the largest volcano in Iceland experiencing an enormous increase in seismic activity of late and we recapped how the 2010 volcanic eruption in Iceland paralyzed air travel, shuttering a number of airports and stranding travelers across Europe (not to mention costing airlines billions in lost revenue). 

To bring us up to date is Dem. site DailyKos which truly makes me love science even more.  Sadly, I slept through much of it as a teen.  What a fool was I.

In any case, Bardabunga is far from calming down and indicators point to it's magma chamber not only expanding, but flowing right towards...........Askja; another volcano's magma chamber.  Estimate now are that magma intrusion she's sent forth at an average rate of hundreds of cubic meters per second (similar to the flow rate of the Hudson River at New York City, straight through solid rock) has gone over 30 kilometers from Bárðarbunga's magma chamber, its end is no longer under the glaci

No, not the one from April 2010 whose name no one could pronounce (Eyjafjallajokull) however a larger one (Bardarbunga) may now be heating up (pardon the pun).

In what the Meteorological Office describes as an "intense earthquake swarm," scientists registered some 2,600 earthquakes between early Saturday morning and Monday evening.

And after the strongest earthquake since 1996 was measured in the area early Monday, an orange aviation alert was posted (2nd highest alert) by Icelandic authorities -- indicating "heightened or escalating unrest with increased potential of eruption."

In 2010 the Eyjafjallajokull eruption forced the cancellation and diversion of thousands of flights per day at the peak of the problem due to ash that can damage a plane's delicate engines, while the ventilation holes can become clogged and stall the aircraft.  Over 10 million travellers were stranded around the world, waiting for winds to shift.

"It was causing problems for millions of passengers, the airli

As the WSJ highlights, The U.S. airline industry's newfound health is breeding something not seen in years: a flock of startups.

Two fledgling carriers already have taken off. One is a reincarnation of the old People Express Airlines, a discounter that folded in 1987. The other is a French all-business-class carrier, plying the Paris-to-Newark, N.J., route.

Others are still in various stages of incubation, hoping to raise sufficient funds and receive government clearance to take wing.

Entrepreneurs see opportunity in the service cuts—a side effect of years of restructuring and consolidation—that have helped the U.S. airline industry attain its highest profit margins since the late 1990s. Today four big carriers control some 82% of domestic capacity.

Unfortunately, airline startups all share an ill-founded optimism, some analysts say—that they can defy the odds in an industry that has experienced 77 bankruptcies and multiple liquidations in the U.S. alone in the past 20 years

Ah, 1978 and U.S. airline deregulation.  What a thing of beauty.  Suddenly there seemed to be a new airline popping up each year, all vying for a piece of the pie in the sky.  Then how to drum up business.  Remember the days of airfare wars?   A new start-up would lower prices to attract business and the big  boys , no longer with the luxury of their monopoly, had no choice but to follow suit as their passenger counts fell in step. 

The consumer was obviously elated!  Even those who previously couldn't afford to visit Grandma in Boca, were suddenly able to take to the skies; kiddies and all.   

Those were the clear benefits of deregulation and the consumer loved it - but corporate profits did not.

Then came the rise of jet fuel.  Did the government intervene to stop it?  If they did, it was too little too late.  (click chart to enlarge)  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to imagine what that did to profits and prices.

Oddly enough with dramatically less demand, fuel prices haven't