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AlotOfReadingyesterday at 11:32 PM0 repliesview on HN

It's not scalping. Airlines are a low margin business. Southwest is 2% margin. Delta is 6%. AirAsia is one of the higher ones at over 12%. Most airlines can't do what they do though. AirAsia went out and built a parallel supply chain in Malaysia. They're not only getting lower crew costs, but lower labor costs at every level of operation. They're also paying less for fuel, less for planes, less to acquire customers, less in compensation fees because their planes are punctual, etc. It's not a model replicable by American carriers.