Now, the only profitable carriers are low-fare operators like Southwest Airlines that have avoided building comprehensive nation-spanning route systems.
Despite the speed with which the latest cuts in pay and benefits have fallen into place, Mr. Kelly sees them as the result of airlines' inability to adjust their cost structures to the changing airline market, in which low-fare operators like his own have quintupled their market share over the last decade.
Michael Roberts, chief executive of the Association of Train Operating Companies, said: "By providing a broad range of fares, operators have attracted record numbers of passengers to the railways.
In exchange for higher fares, the operators agreed to the installation of "technology enhancements".
They are limited in particular by the resources available, problems in the application of demand management measures, the need to negotiate PT service levels and fares with operators, the lack of understanding of interactions between transport and land use, and the timescale for implementing innovative solutions.
When you pay an inflated price for a train ticket, only part of the fare compensates the operators for the money they spend on fuel, wages, rolling stock and other outlays.
Shadow transport secretary Mary Creagh told her party's conference that rail users had had enough of "secret" fare rises by operators and overcrowding.
Commuters travelling at peak times face higher fares as train operators try to tackle overcrowding on the busiest services, the Government warned yesterday as it set out moves to cut subsidies to the rail industry.
While Singapore cab fares are set by operators, Seoul's taxi rates are set by the government and the starting fare of 2,400 KRW has not changed since 2009.
The reason why "ticket-split" journeys are so much cheaper is rather complicated and to do with the popularity of your destination and differing fares by different rail operators.
After years of growing passenger numbers, only cheaper advance fares kept thetrain operator's journey numbers at the previous year's level of 2.3m.
