But what is the point of an airline after all?

This question leads to an obvious answer: to transport passengers. Of course, this is its primary purpose, and the success of air transport is the most striking demonstration of this. Nearly 5 billion passengers by 2025, and demand continues to grow.

Consider that more than two-thirds of the planet’s population still lacks access to this mode of transportation, and as soon as they can, they rush to do so.

One ​​need only look at the tremendous growth of air travel in India, where Indigo, for example, has ordered 500 aircraft with an average capacity of nearly 200 seats and has taken an equivalent option.

So there’s no doubt about it, airlines have a single mission: to transport passengers or cargo by plane.

But that’s not all, and upon closer inspection, an airline has other missions.

Low-cost airlines
Basically, these are the only carriers whose sole function is to transport passengers.

They have considerably expanded the customer base, and we owe them in large part for the growth of tourism, as well as overtourism, which is becoming a real concern.

This type of airline must be economically profitable because « low-cost » airlines have nothing to expect from the public authorities.

Then there’s the case of Ryanair, which built a large part of its prosperity by charging the regions and airports that wanted to host its flights.

This strategy worked because, ultimately, the passengers brought in bring added value far greater than the contributions paid to the company.

This is an example where, even without it necessarily being part of its mission, a carrier can revive a region or even develop a country.

This is at least what we can see between Europe and certain North African countries.

« Legacies »

These are the traditional airlines.

They created air transport by using the protection of states, which in turn use them as a means of prestige, but also of diplomatic pressure and even domestic politics.

The 197 countries in the world, including two that are only observers at the UN (the Vatican and Palestine), and two that are not registered (Taiwan and the Cook Islands), almost all have their own carrier.

Even very small states like Monaco have their own helicopter company.

Traditional airlines have also evolved considerably, and governments have gradually withdrawn, at least in terms of their equity stakes.

Many investment funds have replaced governments, without the latter having relinquished control over their national carriers.

Many have retained sufficient shares to sit on the board of directors and influence certain decisions.

Most have also provided significant financial support to their national carriers during the Covid period.

Traditional airlines are the vectors of traffic rights between states, and these
represent an essential part of a country’s sovereignty.

This is how air carriers
become a real tool in the service of countries’ foreign policy, and even a means of concealing espionage activities, as we have seen in the past.

They are also a means for some governments to conduct their domestic policies.

Ecological constraints are often put forward to disguise electoral objectives.

It is easier and more effective to restrict air transport to please the effective environmental lobby than to tackle other sectors that are much more polluting, such as textiles, for example.