Peter Jackson column

Apr 12 2007 By Peter Jackson, The Journal

A white mouse running loose in a Boeing 777 delayed a Vietnam Airlines flight to Tokyo for more than four hours.

A passenger spotted the troublesome rodent on Saturday night and technicians were sent on board on a search and destroy mission that lasted until 4am on Sunday.

Meanwhile, in the US, Northwest Airlines cancelled a flight from Las Vegas to Detroit after the captain swore over his mobile phone in a bathroom and then, for good measure, swore at a passenger who tried to tick him off.

He was questioned by local police who decided there was no need to test for alcohol, and Northwest Airlines cancelled the flight.

But these two incidents have been the only real bits of recent bad news on the airline industry front.

Indeed, for low cost carriers things seem to be going swimmingly.

EasyJet reported earlier this week that passenger numbers were up last month by 12.3% to 3.09 million, compared to a year ago.

This is in line with the company's predictions last month that revenues would rise in this quarter. In the last three months of 2006, easyJet's total sales rose by 15% to £366m and it forecast an increase in pre-tax profits of up to 50%.

And it is not alone. Rival low cost airline Ryanair has been making similarly bullish noises about its own prospects.

The whole airline industry has some cause for optimism, with fuel costs on a downward trend. After crude oil reached a record price of US$78 a barrel last year it is now at a more comfortable US$60. Of course, a major terrorist incident or sudden crisis in international relations - neither of which are out of the question - could plunge the industry into fresh crisis, but, for now, signs are encouraging.

All of which will infuriate environmentalists who see the airline industry as a major contributor to global warming and it will bear out their arguments that the recent doubling of air passenger duty will have virtually no effect on demand for air travel. For any tax on air travel to slow the industry's growth it will have to be large enough to be politically dangerous. But anything short of that will do less to curb flying than will marauding mice or cursing captains.