Fares & revenue

Price markets, not itineraries

You price markets: the city pair a traveller is going between, not each itinerary through your network. Fares & pricing lists every market you sell with each cabin's fare and its share of the reference fare, how full it flew, who set the fare (you, a rule or the default), and your rivals and their lowest fare. Show all, or only those full or under half full last week.

Setting a market's fares

Open a market to set its fares: exact amounts, a share of the reference fare that moves with it, or back to your plan fares and rules. The sheet says what last week's travellers would have paid at the new fares. New fares apply to bookings from now; travellers already booked keep theirs, so loads respond over days.

Pricing rules

Rules price many markets at once while you are away. A rule prices at a share of the reference, at the cheapest rival, below the cheapest, above the average, or at whatever fills the seats; it covers the classes and markets you choose, by distance or from airports, and keeps between a floor and a ceiling. The highest-priority, most specific rule sets each market and class. The defaults above set fares where nothing else does, and connecting fares. Fares you set on a market come first.

What a fare can do

A lower fare wins price-first travellers and some leisure travellers; it does not buy a market. A strong product on a well-timed schedule holds a higher fare. Fare wars cost everyone, and the airline with less cash and reputation usually loses.

Watch load and average fare together. A full aircraft at a poor fare can lose money; a three-quarters-full aircraft at a good fare often makes more.

Other revenue

Fees for bags and seats add revenue a passenger. Freight in the hold adds revenue on passenger flights, counted in each route's revenue and contribution; see Cargo & charters.