My company, Jazz Air LP is feeling the pressure of escalating fuel prices and
last week suspended "overtime" in my department as well as company wide.

Yesterday, it was announced that 270 employees will be laid off, which is the
first time the Regional Airline company had to take such measures. 

Air Canada has made reductions in staff and flights and this has effected my
Airline here in Canada. When Air Canada flights arrive in major airports across
Canada such as Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, Jazz shuttles people to
destinations within the provinces as well as bordering United States.

Everybody in the airline is praying and upper management is lobbying for fuel
prices to stabilize and drop to a "normal level". What do I call normal? The current 
price of oil per barrel is around $144.00 and when all this mess started it was
around $90.00. Still high but it was at a level that companies and people
were accustomed to and the economy was running fairly smoothly.



The big argument here in Canada is that we could rely on our own source
of oil from the rich oil sands of Alberta to vast oil reserves off the coast of
Newfoundland to name a couple. However OPEC is calling the shots but
rumblings from Nation leaders are spurring discussions between Governments
that something has to be done and some sort of International Regulatory body
needs to be put in place.

Currently OPEC denies any oil crisis and although predictions see oil prices
climbing to $250.00 a barrel, they rule it out as pure speculation. The 2275
people laid off with Air Canada and Jazz know first hand that the price of
oil is causing a personal crisis that affects their careers and families.

Having an established Home Business makes more sense now than it ever
has before.