Originally Posted by
jsloan
I don't deny that those flights are full. It doesn't mean that they're profitable. The correlation between load factors and profitability is a lot weaker than many people imagine -- because the question is always, "how much did you have to discount the seats in order to fill the plane?"
While I usually agree with you, I beg to differ here. I'm not sure you're familiar with the route, the demand, or the fares. Fares are painfully high and the premium cabins typically sell out, on airlines (NH and JL) that don't give premium seats away. There's a fair bit of business traffic between the two countries and lots of tourist traffic both ways, which is particularly high end in the BKK-TYO direction (HiSo Thais love visiting Japan).