Carriers to Raise Fares as Tax Break Ends

U.S. carriers including Delta Air Lines Inc. and Southwest Airlines Co. plan to increase fares as much as $10 after a four-month U.S. tax break that helped carriers cut losses from the Iraq war expired.

“They’re saying we’re going to up the fare 10 bucks,” said Tom Parsons, chief executive of Bestfares.com, a Web site that tracks ticket costs. “This is an automatic.”

Delta, the third-biggest U.S. carrier, and Southwest, the largest low-fare airline, will add the fee on top of base fares, company representatives said. AMR Corp.’s American Airlines, UAL Corp.’s United Airlines, Northwest Airlines Corp., US Airways Group Inc. and Continental Airlines Inc. declined to comment.