Traffic Jam Over the Atlantic

Hayes said the number of U.S. passport holders has been gradually increasing to more than 20%, which means that more people are able to travel abroad spontaneously.

He also reiterated British Airways' historic belief in the superiority of its trans-Atlantic product, which includes a unique four-class service: first, business, economy and premium economy, which has bigger seats than normal economy. This summer, the airline that originated flat beds in airplanes plans to unveil "even better beds," Hayes said.

British Airways expects to increase trans-Atlantic capacity by 3.5% this summer, with more frequent flights from London to Seattle and Vancouver and adding Boeing 747s to Washington, D.C. But while British Airways is expanding trans-Atlantic service, it's worth noting that the airline's real growth is in the London-India market, where it plans a capacity increase this year of more than 40%.

Still, the trans-Atlantic route remains a relatively safe haven for U.S. majors, which don't have to worry about incursions by low-fare carriers. Hayes said that low-cost carriers simply don't have airplanes that are large enough to carry enough fuel and passengers to make the trips worthwhile.

Go Coach

Mike Boyd, an airline analyst in Golden, Colo., quoted former Continental CEO Gordon Bethune as saying there's "plenty of low-cost capacity across the Atlantic. It's called 'coach.'"

Boyd said it makes sense for carriers to pick new European markets such as Lisbon and serve them from strong hubs. "With a good hub, you can make these routes work," he said. "The passenger might be going from Lisbon to Philadelphia to Los Angeles, and that's a passenger that Southwest (LUV - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) and the low-cost carriers can't touch."

In a mammoth expansion, Delta said it will open 11 trans-Atlantic routes between March 27 and June 6, some of the 50 new international destinations it has started or announced in the past year. The trans-Atlantic routes include Tel Aviv, Dusseldorf, Copenhagen, Edinburgh, Nice, Athens, Venice from Atlanta, and Budapest, Dublin/Shannon, Manchester and Kiev from John F. Kennedy in New York.