[whazor]

Both Southwest, but also Ryanair are profitable. Totally possible to make money off flights.

But you have to follow the same model: use cheaper airports, a single modern aircraft type to simplify operations, high turnaround speed, charge a lot for extras.

[oceanplexian]

It’s not enough to “make a profit”.

Southwest has 30B in assets and makes $441M in profit. Like most airlines it’s a miracle of modern economics and should practically be considered a charity or a nonprofit. You would make more in treasuries or corporate bonds.

[HWR_14]

Their last earnings report says about 17B in non-cash assets with about 848M in profit based on those assets (assuming that the quarterly profit x 4 is a reasonable assumption). So where are your numbers from?

[Finnucane]

Corporate bonds won't take you to Disneyland.

[rhplus]

Wow… at 1.5% annual return wouldn’t they be better off just renting those assets (aircraft) to other airlines?!

[sithadmin]

The majority of airliners are on 'dry lease' to their respective airlines to begin with.