U.S. air fare hikes likely to stick-fare tracker

CHICAGO, Feb 25 (Reuters) - A $10 round-trip fare increase initiated last week by United Airlines was matched broadly over the weekend by rivals and appears likely to remain in place, fare tracker Farecompare.com said on Monday.

United, a unit of UAL Corp (UAUA.O), boosted fares on Friday by $10 on most U.S. domestic flights to offset high fuel costs. Other airlines quickly followed suit.

Despite some adjustments to the scope of the increase by United and other airlines, the fare hike seemed to have staying power, Farecompare Chief Executive Rick Seaney said in a research note.

"I expect there to be some competitive price jockeying today with (the) most likely outcome of the third sticky increase of 2008 out of five attempts," he said.

After imposing the increase, United reduced or eliminated the increase on some routes as did AMR Corp's (AMR.N) American Airlines, Seaney said.

The U.S. airline industry has been battered recently by skyrocketing fuel prices that hindered its efforts to control costs.

The industry had success last year raising fares to pass the fuel expense on to customers, but a softening U.S. economy could reduce travel demand and weaken the industry's pricing power.

Airline shares were lower on Monday, with the Amex airline index .XAL down 1.3 percent. (Reporting by Kyle Peterson; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)Reuters Messaging: