boilermaker,
Am I wrong in reading a bit of arrogance and hot air in your reply?
"I read economic journals" well....HURRAY for you!!
Anyway, now that you have maybe climbed down the ladder to earth, were I think (unless I'm fully mistaken) you belong, let's try to get into some practice.
First of all I agree that the total route structure is of a high value to the overall return of a company, but there is a lot more to it.
For instance the personals motivation to please the customer, now this is pure practice and you will find little of this in airline economic journals. Were does the chain start; just try to make a reservation with GF by calling to,... you name it, main office, airport, ANYWHERE. You are lucky if anybody answers the phone.
It happened to me several times. Then..if you find someone answering they are usually rude and don't know the answers to simple questions. And this is only were it starts. Then you get the people at the check-in, same s##t. Followed by the gate people
and then finally if you are really unlucky the cabin crew, although I must say they have improved since I started. Staff motivation is of a very high value to any company and this has to be dealt with
asap. A company that is on the brink of collapse every other half year is not a good motivator. If this happens in the real world it's over and done with. As I have experienced many times over the years. It's like an autoland, everything has to be right to get the
best result, all the pieces of the puzzle have to fit in. Economics in books is nice but does not give all the answers. I remember in my old company the PCE was changed because of financial problems and he put his hand on the wallet and at the same time tried to make the crews work to the maximum of FTL, then slowly small things were taken away from us in a very camouflaged way, hardly noticeable. After some time sickness went up, people left and the remaining staff was about to have a nervous breakdown,
end result was revolution and more losses due to staff moral.
Were GF is at this moment and time, it may be the start of something good or it is the start of bare economics and squeezing practices in order to get financial result on paper as soon as possible to please the customer. I truly hope for the first option. Economics or not.