It may be small on a $ per seat mile basis, but in the aggregate
afaik, it is 15-30% of direct operating costs. That makes crew costs a priority target
Figures for one well-known EU LC operator in 2013.
Staff costs for 2000 pilots and 4500 crew - £454,000,000 - annual report
Estimate of "fully-loaded" costs for pilots ~ £300,000,000 - any comments?
Total annual costs including fuel - £3,780,000,000 - annual report
Total profit before tax - £478,000,000 - annual report
So, 300/3780 is only 8%, so not so big, eh? After all fuel was over 1.1 billion in the same perid.
But if you could, say, just halve £300m that would take pre-tax profits to £628m which is a whopping 31% increase.
As I say, it depends how you look at it.