WOW! Why are so many airlines failing?

WOW! Why are so many airlines failing?

Because budget airlines are the worst. I just recently flew on southwest and it was an uncomfortable 4 hours. There were no leg rooms and I'm not even on the tall side.

There were no entertainment even though it said that if I use their free Wi-Fi I can watch movies. Only problem was that the plane had no Wi-Fi on the way back.

Did you know that airlines barely make a profit on ANY flight?
So if the don't manage their airline with acute attention on expenses, they will eventually go bankrupt.

Simple… Too many airlines not enough passengers.

The successful airlines are flexible, where if one route isn't being profitable they can switch it around and find another. The smaller "regional" airlines can't be that flexible generally.

The other factor is fuel costs. Larger airlines can absorb some of the rise in fuel costs, smaller "budget" airlines will have a bigger issue. Airlines that operate on a razor thin profit margin will have a much bigger issue handling rising costs.

It was 1 airline, not many and it was their business structure

Many airlines operate on a financial knife edge. One thing changing can put them out of business. Not enough passengers. Another airline opening a similar route. Fuel prices rising. Changes in the law. Bad weather. Icelandic volcanic dust clouds.

Offering cheap transatlantic flights with a stopover in Iceland (which makes it possible to use smaller airplanes) was the strategy of WOW Air.

At the beginning, they succeeded to do so. However, launching such a strategy relies on heavy debts that can be repaid later if the strategy succeeds.

Unfortunately, other budget airlines (mainly Norwegian) launched also low-cost transatlantic flights while the other competitors (incl. The national flag carriers in Europe) offered also some cheap options (such as cheap airfares to passengers with no checked baggage). In addition, fuel prices gone up.

Generally speaking, offering low-cost long-haul flights is quite a challenge for any airline that tries to do so.

Read more about the fabulous history of low-cost long-haul flights

Many airlines start. When they do they get so many years of Government tax breaks as a new industry. Once those are used up they fold up. Or some Governments sponsor there National air line. In different ways. In event of war or emergency. It is nice to have a airline the Government controls.