probably because Labor was low, routes didn’t compete so much with legacy routes, Airplanes were new and worked, and Legacy Airlines didn’t offer “Basic Economy” .

I know everyone screams that Pilot Pay doesn’t matter but when I upgraded at NK in 2015, As a 3rd year CA I made $128/hr. When I left in 2024 I made $312/hr. The price of a ticket hadn’t really gone up much but the CBA got significantly more expensive. That is a cost to the company. I guess the issue is poor mgmt (like we had at Nk) always just looks to cut costs, rather than raise revenue. Hopefully NK/F9 can merge and get good mgmt that can generate revenue and not just look to have Pilots subsidize “low fares”