It's one of things I suppose, people are over optimistic about this so others are overly pessimistic. Both sides are likely to be right about some things, and wrong about others.
I accept that flying is the only reasonable way of travelling long distances, but I would say that the market has been proved before to be very sensitive to price fluctuations, and while it would be utterly absurd to say that people will stop flying altogether, it doesn't take much for businesses to start preferring video conference calls (or whatever new-fangled technology they use nowadays) or for couples to decide to have their weekend break at home, or even worse not to take it at all - that's all it takes to cause chaos in aviation! Then, as I say, I don't think for one minute the whole sector will shut down, but the amount of flying will become unsustainable and we're back in 2008 before there's been a proper boom.
And cefey,
You make it sound like airlines choose to keep losing money and go bankrupt. In that case, you are very misguided, do you think any airline has ever decided that instead of raising fares they'll just go bankrupt? It happens because of market conditions, don't be so naive to think it's a conscious decision. Companies go bust because someone is doing it cheaper than they are.
I'm sorry to say that airlines have pretty much cut out everything they can to reduce ticket prices, all that remains is to ask whether somebody wants an outside or and inside seat. Do some looking at how many short-haul services include food and drinks, do not charge for baggage, do not charge for payment methods, and you may be surprised.
If flying does expand in the already overcrowded European marketplace, you may find salaries and T&C's nosediving. Think about that before you spend your £80,000.