Originally Posted by
BeenThere
From my perspective there is a huge quality advantage to an airliner with multiple lavatories and flight attendants, room for everyone's luggage, isn't usually at min fuel status the moment it leaves the gate, and that you don't have to walk outside to board. I agree that individual seat comfort & pitch varies widely--death row inmates have more space than most coach passengers. And yes, they should be maintained, dispatched and flown by mainline carriers who have the resources to do it right.
Agreed, so why do airline managers persist in refusing to fly a 777 from Peoria to Wichita? Three reasons:
Cost,
Money and
Profit.
There's an old joke which applies here. A young computer engineer perfects a printer which never needs ink or paper refills, gives flawless, HD picture quality copies and can run over 100 years without need of repair. After presenting his work to his wife, she asked "how much will this printer cost?" "A million dollars each.......but we only need to sell one".
The airlines are in the same predicament. While there may be a market for comfort and high quality service (e.g. Midwest Airlines) it is a very small niche which may not be financially sustainable in today's market (e.g. Midwest Airlines).