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Heavy traffic ahead; summer airline forecast: strong demand, less capacity, steep jet fuel costs, higher prices.

Article Excerpt
A week into what is projected to be the busiest summer travel season ever, corporate travelers face three months of near-full airplanes, heavily trafficked security checkpoints and congested airports, while their companies can expect to pay higher airfares than last summer.

New highs in passenger traffic levels and less capacity to soak up strong demand are aligning to create a summer of discontent for air travelers, but bring some relief for airlines determined to inch up their margins.

"For the airlines, it will be the best summer in a long time," Air Transport Association's chief economist John Heimlich said last week. "The caveats to that may be possible Transportation Security Administration staffing levels, convective weather, congestion and, again, it will be an all-time record for jet fuel prices. Yet from a demand perspective--and demand to me isn't just volume, it's the mix of volume and price--this will be the best position we've been in...

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