Like the whole Dot.com era...when money is being funneled into a black hole, with little or no profit....it will implode.
The numbers of flights/day were scaled back to insure full flights. It's simple business. Since deregulation, airlines have struggled to contain the operating costs against profits and it's no secret it's one of the toughest industries to manage. While I don't know if $50-100 more per ticket would offset the status quo, I'm fairly confident that it wouldn't break the wallets of average pax. Regardless....it has to come from somewhere.