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Airlines are actually heavily monopolized. However, it's the routes that are monopolized. So you appear have your choice of airlines, but if you want a direct
by awakeasleep 6y ago
Airlines are actually heavily monopolized. However, it's the routes that are monopolized.
So you appear have your choice of airlines, but if you want a direct flight and don't live in a hub, then you don't really.
And, often when it seems like you have a choice, you're actually flown by people from a no-name contract airline that controls that route no matter which brand is on the plane.
- missedthecue 6y agoIf airlines are heavily monopolized it's never shown on their statement of financial position, like, ever.
- sova 6y agoInefficiency is often subsidized by the government due to lobbying under the guise of public convenience.
- prewett 6y agoA monopoly is not necessarily profitable. I have a monopoly on the distribution of my blog content, but that does not make any difference in my annual income. Assuming that the parent's assertion that airlines have a monopoly on the route from airport X to aiport Y is correct, it does not give them any pricing power in general because they do not have a monopoly on all routes from X to Y. There are multiple airlines providing routes from X to Y, hence price competition.
- missedthecue 6y agoThen all he is really saying is that two airplanes cannot occupy the same space at the same time. Everyone knows this. Infants know this. It's simple physics. When people talk about monopoly, they mean the absence of competition. They're talking about one firm having the control over the distribution of some kind of commodity, for instance, Standard Oil. But as you say, airlines have plenty of competition.