Is this the end for cheap airline fares?

Kiss goodbye the era of $34 airfares to the East Coast from Chicago, and $200 fares to Europe.

The U.S. airline industry is undergoing a radical makeover and the first casualty, observers say, is the ultralow pricing that has sent Americans to the skies in record numbers but left carriers fighting to stay in business.

The changes hit home last month for Chicago technology executive Ian Drury, who saw the price of a ticket to India that he had planned to purchase jump $1,500, overnight.

Chicago Tribune