If they introduce price cuts in this way then they will end up cannibalising their own market.

Simon Calder

Simon Calder, travel editor of the Independent newspaper, says companies like BA are reducing ticket prices by as much as half, but are disguising the move in the hope of holding out against an "inevitable" fall in basic ticket prices.

The price cuts are being disguised, Mr Calder says, by supplying surplus tickets to cut-price agents that the big name carriers would not normally use.

American-owned Continental Airlines has also begun selling business class seats through discount agents at less that half the official fare, claims Mr Calder.

Online agencies

"Last weekend I flew on British Airways from London to Miami for �120 plus tax," Mr Calder says. "That's half the going rate."

Business is bad

He bought the ticket from an online ticket agency which allows customers to name their own price for a ticket and then searches to find airlines willing to accept the bid.

"Normally at that price I would have expected to get one of the less popular airlines. But BA is now keen to get customers at almost any price."

The danger for BA and others, Mr Calder says, is that they will "cannibalise" their own market.

"If customers become aware that you can get a BA ticket through [an unorthodox channel] - one where you might normally expect to get a 'dodgy' airline - then they are not going to bother going to the flag carrier to pay more money.

"If they introduce price cuts in this way then they will end up cannibalising their own market."

Hidden cost

Mr Calder says the big carriers are also disguising price cuts by "bundling" airline tickets with accommodation and other services.

Heathrow: Almost empty during the crisis

This time last year a premium ticket to San Francisco in BA's World Traveller Plus class would have cost around �5,000.

The cost now, Mr Calder says, has effectively been halved. But the price cut has been disguised by increasing the value of the accommodation which comes with the package.

The airlines which are suffering most, Mr Calder says, are those which rely most heavily on "premium economy" fares at this time of year.

Empty

"Premium economy" are relatively high-priced tickets used by business people. The market for these tickets is dominated by transatlantic flight and demand has been devastated by events in New York.

"At this time of year 'premium economy' normally keeps the whole thing afloat. The planes are half empty but the higher prices being paid at the front make it worth flying."

Cheap tickets can be obtained through the internet

But now the flag carriers, Mr Calder thinks, will have consider across the board cuts in ticket prices.

And their hand, he believes, may well be forced by a competition from low-cost operators as well as their own "cannibalising" activities.

A spokesman for Easyjet told BBC News: "I expect we are going to get more market share. We are going to get the slots previously given to national airlines."

"On the cheaper airlines the price of a flight to Los Angeles this winter is still about �250 - the same as last year.

'All bets are off'

"What the industry is watching out for is a �200 flight to the west coast of the USA.

"Once somebody starts trashing the market like that - anything can happen. All bets are off."

But the travel agents organisation ABTA denied that discounting was taking place on a larger scale than is normal for this time of year.

"Discounting is part of the travel business. This is the low season and there are bargains if you shop around. But there is nothing out of ordinary according to our members - there is no campaign of price-cutting."

British Airways said it had not adopted a policy of additional discounts to deal with the current crisis and fall off in demand which, it believes, will be a "temporary problem".