Why Long-Haul Low-Cost Airlines Always Go Bankrupt

Writing by Sam Denby
Research by Sam Denby and Tristan Purdy
Editing by Alexander Williard
Animation by Josh Sherrington
Sound by Graham Haerther
Thumbnail by Simon Buckmaster

Select footage courtesy the AP Archive

[MudhaffarAdhwa]

"stimulate demand on routes with low demand*

Low cost, long haul airlines: opens Pyongyang to Washington DC route

[AverytheCubanAmerican]

"what's the secret sauce to a profitable long-haul low-cost airline?"
certainly not Newark Airport

[MrMarinus]

Also the longer a flight is the more comfort matters. People are willing to put up with cramped seats for a 40 minute flight. But not really for a 300 minute flight.

[Serenity]

I'm so sad wow air went out of business. The cost to go to Amsterdam is now 2.5x what is used to be... I didn't know how good I had it back then.

[wewantourdarbyback]

Editor: "Vaccines seem big at the moment, maybe we do that?"

Sam, scratching his arm till it bleeds: "WE HAVEN'T DONE A PLANE VIDEO FOR LIKE THREE WEEKS"

[cedricye]

Norwegian Air: "OH NO IM GOING BANKRUPT HELP"

Wow air: "first time?"

[domsolanke]

As a Canadian we all know Westjet is not a low cost longhaul Airline, its literally the same prices as the legacy carrier Air Canada

[aeae]

Be careful with outliers: the # of hubs correlation is almost entirely generated by the single outlier with high leverage on the right (4:30). Removing this single data point as a robustness check, the R-squared drops to 0.006, signaling that the correlation is pretty much entirely dependent on this single outlier.

[Coolmark]

this was better than some of my business school classes in university

[waaahl]

Death, taxes and *Wendover plane videos* .

[Sharma-xwml]

Make a "why Wendover would go bankrupt without airlines" for April fools

[LiviuDnistran]

Great content.
One small mention about TUI and Condor.
The majority of their passengers buy those seats with a holiday package attached. TUI and Condor fly mostly as part of a holiday package and that's why they are the only company flying MUC-CUN(one exampe) direct in the middle of european winter.
Even though they sell tickets to the mass market, most of the plane is full of holidaymakers going to a warm place in winter.

[michaelscott]

TUI are really just a package holiday company that sell tickets on their flights as a secondary revenue stream.

[windywendi]

Now this just feels like ancient history, a time where people could fly everywhere without worries.

[braedenmatson]

"Hey Dad, tell us a scary story!"

"Norwegian Airlines."

[Erikskordie]

As a Brazilian, I just appreciate how you pronounce "Recife"

[finalbox]

"but....but this time it's different" - every airline founder a couple of years before they go bankrupt

[SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

Long-haul low-cost airlines: go bankrupt
Air Koryo, vibing: Sucks to be you 😎

[nienke]

TUI (Tourism Union International) also doesn't just offer flights, they're invested in the tourism industry more broadly, they have travel agencies where they promote the destinations they fly to and offer deals on a combination of flight, accommodation, and activities (and nowadays they also offer them online). They manage to create demand for their flights this way, as well as getting a cut of the accommodation and activities booked trough them.

[FelipeFV]

I’d never imagine seeing my city in a Wendover Productions video since it’s not a logistics or business hub by any means, and yet there Vitória is at 8:38. Made me miss home, cheers! Love your content!