Industries · Aviation
Airlines, airports, and aircraft leasing
How airlines, airports, and aircraft lessors make money, how to use RASK, CASK, load factor, and yield, why hub carriers such as the Gulf airlines and low-cost carriers win in different ways, and how fuel hedging and slots shape airline cases.
Key takeaways
- An airline sells seats on flights that cost almost the same to operate whether the plane is full or half empty.
- Airlines measure everything per seat kilometre. If revenue per available seat kilometre (RASK) is above cost per available seat kilometre (CASK), the airline makes money; the gap is its unit profit.
- Aviation is exposed to shocks it cannot control: fuel prices, conflicts, pandemics, and aircraft delivery delays.
- Explain network carriers, Gulf hub carriers, and low-cost carriers, and how airports and lessors earn money
- Calculate ASK, RPK, load factor, yield, RASK, CASK, and the break-even load factor
- Explain fuel hedging and airport slots in plain words
- Describe the main airlines and lessors by region and the aviation trends of 2024 to 2026
Lessons
How airlines, airports, and lessors make money
The aviation value chain, the main airline business models, revenue streams, and an approximate cost breakdown.
Airline unit economics: RASK, CASK, load factor, fuel, and leasing
Work through one flight with ASK, RPK, load factor, yield, RASK, and CASK; find the break-even load factor; see how fuel hedging and leasing work.
Aviation players, trends, and how to crack the cases
Main airlines, airports, and lessors by region, the fuel shock and Gulf disruption of 2026, regulation basics, and typical case prompts.
Worked cases in this module
Look it up
Key terms