New Fare Cuts Fall Short of Last Year’s Air Travel Bargains : Airlines: Northwest sets off the latest round of reductions; other carriers quickly follow suit.

Airlines launched another round of fare discounts Friday, but many travelers will still wind up paying more for tickets this summer than last year.

A series of quiet fare hikes will keep some ticket prices close to or above year-ago levels as carriers try to stem the flood of losses that has swept the industry since 1990.

Some carriers have also tightened restrictions on the available cheap seats.

“Given the whole series of price increases that have gone into effect in the last few months, the discounting is off a much higher base,” said Michael Derchin of NatWest Securities Corp.

Northwest Airlines set off the latest round of fare cuts with as much as 50% off domestic tickets bought by April 7 for travel between May 1 and Sept. 14 in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.

Delta, United Airlines, USAir, TWA and other carriers immediately matched the new fares on competitive routes. American Airlines extended the purchase deadline to April 10 and spread the discounts through its entire domestic system.

As with most recent fare actions, the Northwest sale is extremely restricted. The deepest discounts are for travel on Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday afternoon.

Northwest repeatedly has said the fare discounts are part of its strategy to fill empty seats on its planes.

“This is a short-term, targeted promotion that works for our customers, for Northwest and, we think, for the industry,” said Michael Levine, executive vice president.

Although other carriers matched the discounts, they indicated that summer bookings appear strong.

Fares fell sharply between 1989 and the early 1990s as carriers tried to lure recession-hit travelers. And tiny new carriers forced major airlines to slash fares in short-haul markets, which also has contributed to the industry’s woes.

But long-haul fares are on the rise and carriers have also expressed their goal to hike fares on short routes, too.

Major carriers, which do not publicize the fare hikes, have repeatedly raised ticket prices on key routes in the past few months. Even Southwest Airlines, known for its no-frills flights and cheap tickets, has raised fares on some routes.

Carriers are also adding more restrictions to the cheapest flights, such as requiring passengers to book tickets further in advance to get the lowest ticket prices.

“In the last year, they have eliminated the super-deep discounts and have managed to get the average fares up,” said Chris Miller of Maryland-based USTravel.

According to American Express, which compiles monthly air-fare data, the cheapest restricted one-way fare between Chicago and Cincinnati rose 12% from year-ago levels to $144 in March.

Similarly, the lowest one-way restricted Boston-Washington fare rose to $109 in March, up 10% from February and up 47% from March, 1994.

So far, the higher prices are contributing to a much-improved financial outlook for the troubled airline industry, which has lost about $12.8 billion since 1990.