Let&#x27;s take a 747-400, which (I think) could be used for such a flight. It takes up to 660 passengers, and every single one of them would have to pay $700 to <i>just</i> cover the fuel costs. That is, in 2008 fuel prices[0]. And you still have to pay the pilots, flight attendants, ground crews and somehow keep the lights on on the airport.<p>Tickets for normal travelers are <i>ridiculously</i> underpriced; the reason airlines stay alive is a combination of government subsidies, business tickets being much more expensive, and all those annoying ticket pricing schemes - from trying to trick you into buying insurance, through prices increasing when you refresh the site in your browser, to crazy rebooking fees, etc.<p>Fuel prices aren&#x27;t going to go down in the long run, even only if because we will have to start dealing with climate change eventually; some politicians are bound to regain minimum of sanity at some point and price the issue into fuel. Meanwhile, air crews all over the world are going on strike because of low pay and cuts. At the same time, passengers want to fly more and for less. The era of cheap air travel is bound to end soon, and I doubt even Ryanair can invent many more annoying ways to make additional money on the side to compensate for the ticket price.<p>[0] - <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.airliners.net&#x2F;aviation-forums&#x2F;general_aviation&#x2F;read.main&#x2F;3986572&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.airliners.net&#x2F;aviation-forums&#x2F;general_aviation&#x2F;re...</a>