An Open letter to All Airline Customers:

An Open letter to All Airline Customers:

Our country is facing a possible sharp economic downturn because of
skyrocketing oil and fuel prices, but by pulling together, we can all do
something to help now.

For airlines, ultra-expensive fuel means thousands of lost jobs and
severe reductions in air service to both large and small communities. To
the broader economy, oil prices mean slower activity and widespread
economic pain. This pain can be alleviated, and that is why we are
taking the extraordinary step of writing this joint letter to our
customers.

Since high oil prices are partly a response to normal market forces, the
nation needs to focus on increased energy supplies and conservation.
However, there is another side to this story because normal market
forces are being dangerously amplified by poorly regulated market
speculation.

Twenty years ago, 21 percent of oil contracts were purchased by
speculators who trade oil on paper with no intention of ever taking
delivery. Today, oil speculators purchase 66 percent of all oil futures
contracts, and that reflects just the transactions that are known.
Speculators buy up large amounts of oil and then sell it to each other
again and again. A barrel of oil may trade 20-plus times before it is
delivered and used; the price goes up with each trade and consumers pick
up the final tab. Some market experts estimate that current prices
reflect as much as $30 to $60 per barrel in unnecessary speculative
costs.

Over seventy years ago, Congress established regulations to control
excessive, largely unchecked market speculation and manipulation.
However, over the past two decades, these regulatory limits have been
weakened or removed. We believe that restoring and enforcing these
limits, along with several other modest measures, will provide more
disclosure, transparency and sound market oversight. Together, these
reforms will help cool the over-heated oil market and permit the economy
to prosper.

The nation needs to pull together to reform the oil markets and solve
this growing problem.

We need your help. Get more information and contact Congress by visiting
www.StopOilSpeculationNow.com.

Robert Fornaro
President and CEO AirTran Airways

Bill Ayer
Chairman, President and CEO Alaska Airlines, Inc.

Gerard J. Arpey
Chairman, President and CEO American Airlines, Inc.

Lawrence W. Kellner
Chairman and CEO Continental Airlines, Inc.

Richard Anderson
CEO Delta Air Lines, Inc.

Mark B. Dunkerley
President and CEO Hawaiian Airlines, Inc.

Dave Barger
CEO Jet Blue Airways Corporation

Timothy E. Hoeksema
Chairman, President and CEO Midwest Airlines

Douglas M. Steenland
President and CEO Northwest Airlines, Inc.

Gary Kelly
Chairman and CEO Southwest Airlines.

Glenn F. Tilton
Chairman, President and CEO United Airlines, Inc.

Douglas Parker
Chairman and CEO US Airways Group, Inc.