Originally Posted by
Phileas Fogg
So how does an aircraft make money when it's not flying?
By generating sales based on the
potential of the aircraft rather than actual travel. Seats on an aircraft are a commodity like any other, and a perishable one at that. Any normal retailer will confirm that footfall and passing trade are essential for maximising profits. So while your shop window is 36000 feet up being "experienced" by confirmed customers, someone on the ground has to be paid to come up with ways of convincing everyone who didn't buy, or hasn't decided to buy, a ticket that they ought to do so.
Modern aviation economics puts huge emphasis on the cost of an ASM but passengers don't buy ASMs, they buy a ticket for a journey that someone (else) has persuaded them they need to take. What works best? Cheap headline fares. The justification for this is, supposedly, to stimulate interest and create an impression of passing trade, but this fails to take account of the fact that a great number of potential air travellers really don't care whether or not the aircraft goes anywhere - they like the idea, they watch the TV travel programmes, they surf the net, they might even buy the guide book, but they don't book the ticket.
Give them a 'plane, sell them the hope of stepping aboard one of those once-a-day departures and they'll happily pay for another turn of the wheel of their dreams ... and no-one needs to worry about the cost of fuel.