Originally Posted by
ITRADE
Fares four years ago could be had in summer on transcon routes for $250 to $299. You're lucky to find a sub $400 fare today (save for the last week of August).
Which wouldn't even cover the cost of the fuel to fly you 5,000 miles, let alone the plane lease or purchase, the labor, airport landing fees, and so on. This was also at a time where most airlines were losing money like crazy during the recession.
If your argument is that we need an airline industry where everyone is 5 minutes from Chapter 11, and where airlines can't afford capital investments, regularly employees on their promised commitments, and there's no reasonable expectation that companies can offer return on shareholder investment, that's amazingly short-sighted.