There are some fundamental problems with some people's thinking here.
To quote from earlier:
"Who will pay for Air France's massive loss this year?
Who will pay for KLM's massive loss this year?
Who will pay for Luftansa's massive loss this year?
The closure of SpanAir? Malev Airlines? Who do you think will pay for that?"
Air France, KLM and Lufthansa pay for those losses out of their bank balances. If they can't cough up the cash and can't get any more from any banks they go bust. When they go bust no-one 'pays for' it, all their assests get sold off to pay as much of the debt as possible and then they just don't exist any more!! Nobody 'paid' for the closure of SpanAir and Malev, they just ceased to exist.
An airline is a business. It sells travel seats to passengers and cargo space to freight operators. It then has to balance the money that it costs to run that business (i.e. fly the aeroplanes, pay for the business infrastructure, etc.) with the money that it brings in from sales. There may be some years where there are losses (money 'in' is less than money 'out') but the cash available and the willingness of banks to lend to a sensible business plan should cover that. The good years of profit (ooh, that term that the lefties hate!!) must be there to cover any years of loss and keep the business afloat. Money is like fuel to a business. Keep it topped up and it doesn't crash! Run out and it crashes!
But then there are some places where airlines are considered to be 'government departments' rather than businesses. The Soviet Union was a good example of that. But then the Soviet Union itself no longer exists, does it?
If SAA cannot make a profit without being propped up by that over-strained taxpayer, then it should no longer exist... just like SpanAir and Malev and countless others, no matter how 'good' anyone might think it is.
Apologies for stating the 'bleeding obvious' here, but it is quite apparent from some of the posts on this that there are several who just can't (or won't?) see that which is 'bleeding obvious'!
Last edited by Trossie; 8th Apr 2012 at 13:40.
Reason: (Last sentence added...), Sp.