Falling Leaf...So this is all about the price of oil is it?????
Yes. As is, in essence, the whole GFC. The subprime crisis was in part caused by rising petrol prices pushing already marginal borrowers into defaulting on their mortgages. Just enough to topple an over-leveraged financial industry that was little more then a credit bubble house of cards.
Why then was the price of airfares in comparison to the average wage so much higher before the advent of the 747?
No competition (most airlines were national airlines), pre-deregulation, less fuel efficient aircraft, higher T&C for all staff (hence the golden age of being an airline pilot), little to no outsourcing, stronger unions etc.
I know that even 10 years ago you could pay $1000 for a SYD-BNE ticket with Ansett. Airfares are one of the only products that have not increased in even inflation adjusted dollars.
Did the airlines make a profit when there were far less people flying and airfares were higher......YES and the price of oil was much lower....instead of using aircraft that are so big they have their own postcode maybe it's time to have smaller aircraft and higher fares.....
Yes, completely agree. And using your logic, with a higher oil price, perhaps we need even smaller aircraft and higher ticket prices!