Airlines in a Crisis

What is Norwegian doing. They have only managed to fly 10% of the number they flew last year. Ryanair on the other hand have flown 50% on 2/3 of the amount of flights they flew last year. That is about 72% of seats on every flight sold compared to 97% for same period last year. This lead to that Ryanair had no problem getting in an extra 400 million cash from sale of new shares. This is about twice what Norwegian says they need to get through the next 6 months. But who is going to invest in a company that already this year have burnt their shareholders. In fact a  company that has made a habit of doing it nearly every year. Not without getting in some new brooms rather than the one that after just a few months in the job abandoned them alltogether. Fact is in the airplane business there is always some crisis going. 9/11, oil price above USD 100 and whole fleets grounded. One can't just hibernate and wait them out but need to produce whatever one can no matter what the circums...

What some fresh airline ceo's with no relevant airline background don't seem to get is that airplane seats are fresh produce. When the plane have taken off the unsold seats are no longer sellable so spoilt. Actually even 2 hours before it takes off. That is why hibernation is a bad solution for an airline. You can hibernate the planes, at a cost, but not the potential seat kilometers those planes could have produced. Every day you have a potential for selling so and so many seats based on your resources available and they largely need to be sold before the day begins. It's like preselling strawberries you haven't picked yet. Every day you know there will be so and so many to sell and by the end of the day they are spoilt and thrown out. Even though fruit and veg are easier because some can be sold on sale tomorrow and in worst case sold as animal feed thereafter. Seats not sold and routes not flown, and where the plane haven't been utilized elsewhere, have no valu...