Growth of price for oil barrel to 147.27 US dollars combined with deepening economic crisis have made the year 2008 one of the most difficult in the recent history of the world and of Romania.

1. Record price for petrol. Fuel supply costs - budgetary sinkhole for airline carriers

The biggest blow for the airline carriers was the skyrocketing price for oil, in the context of sagging demand concerns. The top threshold was 147.27 dollars/barrel and was registered on July 11.

In the context of a rallying fuel price, over 30 airline carriers in the world faced serious problems. Some of them called upon bankruptcy protection while other competitors reduced their activity, in an effort to remain on the floating line.

The subsequent series of bankruptcies unfolded and swirled round the world’s markets: in Europe, large companies, such as Alpi Eagles from Italy, Coast Air from Norway, City Star Airlines from Scotland and Sterling Airways from Denmark, and in Asia, Taipei-based Far Eastern Air Transport carrier were unable to keep up with the high price of the oil, and in Africa, competitors such as Cameroon Airlines or Air Mauritanie have completely relinquished their operations.

Not only small and low-cost companies have been affected by the crisis, but also the large airline operators as well. “The costs for fuel in first half amounted 1.5 billion pounds, 52% more than a year earlier”, Emil Delibashev, country manager of British Airways told Wall-Street.

He added that this was the first time when the costs with fuel exceed workforce expenses.

“This year, 35% of the total costs were earmarked for fuel supplies, while only 20% were allocated for the staff”, the representative of the British airline carrier added.

2. My Air teams up with Sky Europe to become No 1 carrier in Europe

Given the struggling economy worldwide, an