The chief executives of Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines both warned this week that rising oil prices are having a severe impact on carriers and jeopardizing the industry's recent return to profitability. Speaking at the FAA Aviation Forecast Conference in Washington, DL CEO Richard Anderson said high fuel costs are the "first and foremost issue" for the airline industry, with $105-plus per-barrel crude oil prices "really having a debilitating, negative effect." NWA President and CEO Doug Steenland told employees in a hotline message that fuel costs are a "budget breaker" that could add as much as $1.7 billion to the carrier's 2008 costs. He added, "If fuel remains where it is today, our increased fuel costs will again create a difficult financial challenge for the airline. This rapid increase in fuel costs is another reason why we continue to believe that consolidation in the industry is inevitable." Both CEOs declined to comment on DL-NWA merger speculation. But both made it clear that airlines will be in financial peril if oil prices continue rising. Anderson criticized US officials for not developing a comprehensive energy policy. "Jawboning OPEC is not an energy policy," he said. "In the short run, a lot of what's going on in the fuel business is market speculation, and there's not a whole lot you can do about that. But the issue's been around a long time and there are a lot of sources of demand like home heating that have alternatives [to oil-based fuel]. We really don't have any conservation policies. . .We're several years behind time in dealing with this issue. We can't as a country that's so oil dependent just tell OPEC to increase production." by Aaron Karp