This is a real complex nut to crack. Businesses exist to make profit-period. Airlines should be no different than say the bakery. There are vast differences in the making of the products but the basics are the same. From a board room stand point they have to satisfy shareholders who have invested money. Those shareholders assume some risk as with any investment that company officers are competently finding ways to sell the product to consumers and the enriching the company. If the company makes poor decisions the shareholders can petition the board for redress. So from the business side the officers are obligated to get the best return and produce positive balance sheets.

Now on the operational side the officers are running a factory. That factory produces seats from airport A to airport B. The shelf life of this product is only good until the aircraft pushes back. This makes things a little tricky in how to market and sell them. Competition, market share and controllable cost are the day to day battle. Every businessman knows that a certain amount of spoilage, theft, damage, and loss will occur and this is factored into the cost of the product. It should be no different in the airline industry.

Prior to Deregulation the CAB strictly controlled entry into the market. This kept low ball competitors out of the process. The problem with the Government (CAB) running and in some cases overseeing operations is that corruption usually sneaks in. Regulators were on the take and new and innovative ideas were shelved. The system was dysfunctional fro the customer stand point. When this happens revolution occurs and it did in the form of Deregulation.

Post Deregulation led to no fetters to competition and allowed loosing venues to enter the market. This is akin to the wonder bread company being out sold by the sweat-shop bakery. If bread cost $1 to make and they were selling at $.50 try to get a share of the pie, they could only do this for so long. And so bye bye Peoples Express, NY Air, Apple etal. A few came up with great ideas and manage to thrive through innovation, ie SWA.

My Hunch is that the only way you will see some return to relative security is the removal or massive revision of the RLA. This antiquated Law is the real hindrance to pilots. If you had the same skill sets that you have now in any other business, you would be sought out and compensated accordingly. In Europe there is no RLA, and their pilots let the officers know that every now and then.