Originally Posted by
Excargodog
I’m amazed at how few people - even airline pilots - understand this. Airline flying is a capital intensive business.
I’m sure we are getting the 33 new aircraft at less than the 101 million apiece list price but even so, that)s $2 billion plus worth of inventory coming in, and just letting it sit there costs serious money, not just tied up in lease or bond costs, but liability insurance, maintenance, parking fees.
As far as operating costs, a 321 with a crew of two pilots and five cabin crew costs about $10,000 an hour (depending on current fuel prices) to fly. The pilots account for less than 5% of that.
Next time you get flight paperwork check the city pair sheet. The last line of each route option are costs in dollars: fuel burn, overflight fees, and time (which is crew including FAs).
Two hour segment with a low cost index on a 321 had fuel at $6300 and crew at $2200 so $4250/hr. Add in lease payments, maintenance, and other operating costs and $10,000/hr sounds about right.
Adding another $2-300 an hour in pilot wages ain’t going to suddenly make the operation cost prohibitive