Originally Posted by
43Inches
Not sure where the doom is coming from, Rex is breaking even this year, a few managed cancellations is not going to affect that much. Flyers don't pay for tickets at the gate so empty airplanes just get cancelled, tickets deferred, money is in the bank, this actually helps operators with low LF as the passengers are then combined onto flights later with more paying passengers for a higher LF. Its not like they are losing $2 billion a year at the moment,or are coming out of insolvency.
Think your missing the fact the due to a cancellation the aircraft and crew could be in the wrong place, so it could still have to be flown somewhere empty to place where it needs to be to maintain the schedule. So crew time, airport fees, any overnight allowances and fuel are potentially still payable.
Secondly, not sure how it works these days with internet direct bookings etc, but the airline never used to receive the money until the sector had been flown and ticket used. I remember the old paper ticket stubs were treated like cash as they were used to claim the money through IATA or booking agent. Does an unused ticket's cash get held in some form of escrow until the sector is flown? Modern technology and booking engines may have negated this though. A passenger may also cancel their booking, so the airline doesn't get (all) the cash at the end of the day either.