Airline industry experts say in New York, plummeting oil prices have led to falling plane ticket prices– and prospects for an even bigger bonanza of consumer-friendly fares in the coming months. With fuel prices down by two-thirds from the dizzyingheights of mid-2014, when oil topped 100 US dollars per barrel, the once cash-strapped airline industry is now reaping record profits.Increased competition also have helped coax down once stubbornly high fares. Patrick Surry, chief data scientist at Hopper, the airfare prediction app said,they had seen typical domestic prices drop about 14 per cent over the past year.Surry said,the drop in fuel prices is a major factor, along with increasing competition from low cost carriers, both domestically and internationally.Experts say fuel makes up about a third of an airline's costs.The US Bureau of Labor Statistics in a report earlier this month (January) said air fares by foreign travelers on US airlines fell 15 per cent in 2015, the largest calendar-year drop since the index was first published in 1987.