Originally Posted by
tpersuit
The only way for a 50-seater to die is if someone invents a 70-seater that burns the same gas or less. Otherwise as costs rise, passenger traffic will drop, causing larger airplanes to go away.
People have no sense with the economics of this. Some how a larger airplane that BURNS MORE GAS per hour is better on a route that has to charge more expensive tickets and less people can fly on it. Make sense?
The 70 seater is more versatile. A 50 seater probably needs 45+ pax to break even, so it's only useful in a situation where you have 45-50 pax.
The 70 is slightly more costly to operate (about 12%) but carries 40% more pax. It is therefore useful for about 55-70 pax...a little more wiggle-room there.