Originally Posted by
Newstick189
I feel like management has been stuffing the “labor prices will bankrupt this airline” thing down pilots and flight attendants throats so long that it’s starting to take hold.
Current spot price for airline fuel is about $2.14 a gallon. An e-175 average burn on a 500 mile segment is maybe 560 gallons. That places fuel costs at roughly $1200/HR. If the captain is getting $100/hr and the FO is getting $50 an hour, their combined salaries are only about 12% of the fuel cost. It's an expense - certainly - but it's little more than a nuisance compared to fuel prices.