Uber is the plane, and drivers are the seats. Uber works so that each seat (or pair, or row of seats) is operated by a single driver, mostly at their own perso

Uber is the plane, and drivers are the seats. Uber works so that each seat (or pair, or row of seats) is operated by a single driver, mostly at their own personal risk – with the operator of the plane controlling a lot of the equation. Normal airlines assume an aggregate risk of the entire demographic and seasonalities of air travel. If customers suddenly stop traveling business, the airline can do something about it (lower prices, improve service, better marketing, and so on). With the Uber model, there's not so much a single driver can do, but they carry a lot of the risk.