Airline Industry Economics

The cluster centers on the financial struggles of airlines, including razor-thin margins, chronic unprofitability, pilot shortages, pricing competition, and debates over pay raises, subsidies, and market dynamics.

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#4587
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Keywords

marketwatch.com JetBlue US bloomberg.com airnav.com WSJ ycombinator.com PPE AA FAA airlines pilots airline flight airplanes regional slots southwest fly carriers

Sample Comments

iancmceachern Jan 20, 2026 View on HN

Tell that to the airline industry

TylerE Oct 14, 2021 View on HN

Airlines, especially post-deregulation, operate on razor thin margins.

woah Apr 3, 2015 View on HN

IIRC airlines are very unprofitable

mathattack Apr 19, 2016 View on HN

Seems like an economics problem. The airplanes are full. The airlines are making lots of money. There aren't enough pilots. Hmm.... Perhaps pay them more?

cameronbrown May 5, 2020 View on HN

As opposed to airlines collapsing from having to keep unsustainable prices?

404mm Aug 5, 2024 View on HN

I have one that I bet the airlines didn’t think about: split them init multiple smaller companies and restore competitive market /s

paulpauper Dec 15, 2020 View on HN

He was sorta abusing it and airlines have tiny margins, so sooner or later they had to put a stop to it.

crxnamja Apr 30, 2008 View on HN

airlines are in a real struggle. curious how they are going to get out of it.

mattbillenstein Apr 16, 2020 View on HN

Airlines are broke yo - I guess you can try.

There isn't remotely what you would consider to be "real competition" in the airlines industry. Only last year American, Southwest and other major airlines agreed to settle a price-fixing lawsuit for tens of millions of dollars. Airlines regularly collude to fix prices.https://www.bloomberg.com/