Originally Posted by
BA318
I guess it's the same reason people start a business in any sector. They believe they can do it better or at least want a piece of the pie. I don't know if the failure rate is that much higher than other sectors. There are reports saying new restaurants fail (figures from 30% to 80% of new restaurants fail in the first 12 months). In the US, the stat is 1 in 5 companies fail in the first year and half within 5 years.
Aviation holds a special magic for a lot of people and that helps draw people in I guess. But we should also be grateful people are willing to take those risks. Sometimes it doesn't work out but still leaves us better off.
I have met a fair share of airline entrepreneurs in my time. They are
1) The successful entrepreneur from another sector who thinks, without any additional knowledge, that their skills are transferable to the airline sector.
2) The airline operations expert who knows everything about operating aircraft but absolutely nothing about the economics of operating aircraft
3) The aviation hobbyist whose hobby somehow grew and got out of hand.
I have read some absolute horror stories of business plans which probably shows that neither the funder or the funded understands the business they are getting into which is why we have such entertaining threads on pprune.