Well oil be damned?

Firstly let's face it: there is no original way to headline a story about air travel, so cheap puns are permitted, and at least you don't get the usual wing and a prayer thing.

It's a stroke of good PR luck that while Gorden Brown and David Cameron are holidaying in England on the 'cheap', the budget airlines are being knobbled by fuel prices.

Ryanair announced a sharp drop in profits yesterday, much of Fleet Street sneered gloatingly, and last night the news stations questioned whether the death knell is tolling for cheap flights.

Yet I have to agree with Alice Thomson in today's Times: we need the cheap fares, and the mainstream airlines don't treat budget passengers as a priority anyway, despite them being the mainstay of their business. Her point is that Dubrovnik is now cheaper than Dorset, and having been up to the Anglian coast last weekend (courtesy of 50 litres of diesel) I can see her point.

The parliamentary PR machines must be rubbing their hands together though, given the leaders have opted for Britain rather than flying abroad. Meanwhile environmentalists have celebrated what they predict to be the demise of budget air travel.

I can see, and agree with, the climatic considerations and Brits jetting off every other weekend is unsustainable. But I suspect the more nimble and wily budget airlines will have more up their sleeves yet. If most customers loating them hasn't put them put of business yet, I doubt the barrel price will have lasting impact.