Originally Posted by rickair7777

At one point I worked in a highly technically specialized manufacturing industry...we built large, complex systems customized to the customer's needs and we marked it up about 50%. But we had few competitors, and fewer still who had our reputation.

Airline seats are a commodity. Commodities usually get marked up 2-3% (or even less), so EVERY cost associated with providing the commodity becomes significant in the long haul.