Fewer people flew. Airlines shrugged.
Fares jumped on fuel costs. Travelers paid anyway. Executives call this "resilience." I call it a hostage situation with a complimentary biscuit.
Consider the business model. Sell fewer seats. Charge more for each. Burn the same jet fuel, minus the people. Somewhere an airline CFO is weeping with joy into a tray table.
The headline says airlines "aren't worried." Of course not. You are the one who is worried. You are the one checking fare alerts at 2 a.m. like a divorced man refreshing a dating app.
Retail traders will see this and buy airline stocks. They will say "pricing power." They will say it with their whole chest. Then they will lose money on a Tuesday, because a chart looked like a smile.
The empty seats are the real story. Every vacant middle seat is a person who looked at the price, laughed, and drove to Ohio. They are the only winners here. Ohio does not charge you for a carry-on.
Everyone else will pay. They will pay for the flight, the bag, the seat, and the privilege of being called "valued." Airlines have discovered that you will accept almost any price if the alternative is a family road trip.
Fuel costs rose. Passengers fell. Profits are fine. The system works exactly as designed, which is the most terrifying sentence in finance.
Fewer people are flying, and the airlines are thrilled, which means the rest of us are just luggage that complains.
Photo by Octav Cado on Unsplash
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