Monday, Sept. 20, 2004 | 10:54 a.m.
Southwest Airlines Co., the most profitable U.S. airline, has locked in prices for 80 percent of its jet-fuel costs through the end of next year -- more than any of its rivals. Other carriers may have lost their chance to hedge prices.
Surging oil prices are forcing airlines to decide whether to buy jet fuel months in advance, when prices are at a 14-year high, or hold off and wait for lower prices.
Southwest, the sixth-largest U.S. carrier, used options on New York crude-oil futures contracts to lock in prices for 80 percent of its 2004 and 2005 fuel needs at $24 and $25 a barrel, company filings show.
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