The Wright brothers’ ingenious invention of the airplane has given man the gift of flight. Since then, aviation has paved the path for international trade and tourism, which have played central roles in global economic prosperity. In 2019, the world’s airlines carried 4.5 billion passengers, while air transport carried 0.5% of the world trading volume that represented 35% in shipment value. It’s a huge industry generating US$704.4 billion per year. In fact, the aviation industry would rank 20th globally in GDP terms with a size close to that of Switzerland’s. Despite the economic significance of aviation, airlines are not as profitable a business as we think they are. It is a capital-intensive business with little to no profits to show. Billions of dollars, mostly funded by debt, are spent on growing their fleet of aircraft. The airlines then incur high fixed and variable costs, primarily from aircraft maintenance, labour, and...