--- title: Airlines Aren't Making Nearly As Much Money As You Think description: The airline industry increased its projected net profits for 2015, but the profit margin is just 4%, a averaging a mere $8.27 per passenger on a flight. More importantly, will airline customers enjoy any new benefits? authors: - name: Alicia Adamczyk url: https://money.com/author/alicia-adamczyk/ at_money_since: 2015 articles: 201 covers: - Business - Banking - Career Advice - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Personal Finance - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://x.com/aliciaadamczyk former_staff: true published: '2015-06-10T14:43:15.000Z' modified: '2024-05-16T10:16:12.000Z' section: Business tags: - Airline Fees - Airlines - Transportation - Travel word_count: 413 canonical: https://money.com/airline-profits/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Passengers use self-service machines to check in for flights on Delta Air Lines at Detroit Metro Airport.](https://img.money.com/2015/06/150610_em_airlinesnomoney.jpg?crop=0px%2C146px%2C2100px%2C1181px&quality=85) *Passengers use self-service machines to check in for flights on Delta Air Lines at Detroit Metro Airport.* Airlines charge customers for everything from a carry-on bag to a bottle of water, airfares are sky high, and there's rarely an empty seat on a plane. Fuel prices are low as well. You'd think carriers would be making money hand over fist. Somehow, though, the industry's average profit is just $8.27 for each passenger that boards a flight. That doesn't sound like much, and amounts to what is described as "a hard-earned 4% average net profit margin" by the [International Air Transport Association (IATA)](http://www.iata.org/pressroom/pr/Pages/2015-06-08-03.aspx) in a new report. At its annual meeting in Miami Beach, Fla., on Monday, IATA revised its outlook for 2015 to a net profit if $29.3 billion, an upgrade from earlier projections of $25 billion, Yahoo News [reports](http://news.yahoo.com/airlines-profit-planes-fill-passengers-182421457.html). Either figure would be a notable increase from 2014’s $16.4 billion net profits for the industry. While this is all good news for the airline industry as a whole, not every region is booming. Airlines will profit $8.27 for every passenger carried *on average*, but North American carriers earn double that figure for each passenger on a flight, while airlines in other parts of the globe are much less profitable. In fact, North American airlines generate over half of global profits, pegged at $15.7 billion for this year. Europe, the second most profitable region, is expected to generate $5.8 billion in profit. Asia-Pacific, African and Latin American airlines are performing below average in terms of expected profitability. In any event, higher profits compared to last year are expected, with low fuel costs acting as a major driver behind the industry’s improved outlook. An average Brent crude oil price of $65 per barrel is 36% lower than the 2014 price of $101.4, according to IATA. Fuller planes are another factor. The overall number of passengers is expected to grow 6.7% this year, compared to 6.0% growth in 2014. What does this mean for each of those passengers? IATA swears that, despite the rise of airline fees and airfares, the value of airline travel is outstanding. “The average return fare (before surcharges and tax) of $429 in 2015 is forecast to be more than 64% lower than 20 years earlier, after adjusting for inflation,” [the report](http://www.iata.org/whatwedo/Documents/economics/IATA-Economic-Performance-of-the-Industry-mid-year-2015-report.pdf) states. Given airlines' increasing profitability, will they stop or at least slow the pace of nickel-and-diming customers for every conceivable need once they've purchased their tickets? Perhaps that that’s too high an expectation. *Read next: [Airline Group Says Your Carry On Bag Should Be Even Smaller](https://money.com/carry-on-bag-size/)* ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/airline-profits/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Business", "item": "https://money.com/business/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Customer Service", "item": "https://money.com/customer-service/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Airlines Aren't Making Nearly As Much Money As You Think" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/airline-profits/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/airline-profits/", "name": "Airlines Aren't Making Nearly As Much Money As You Think", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2015-06-10T14:43:15.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/airline-profits/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/airline-profits/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-05-16T10:16:12.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Airlines Aren't Making Nearly As Much Money As You Think", "articleSection": "Business", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2015/06/150610_em_airlinesnomoney.jpg?crop=0px%2C146px%2C2100px%2C1181px&quality=85", "width": 1012, "height": 569, "caption": "150610_EM_AirlinesNoMoney" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Alicia Adamczyk", "url": "https://money.com/author/alicia-adamczyk/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/alicia-adamczyk/#author", "image": "https://img.money.com/2016/01/alicia-headshot-2.jpg?quality=85&w=640&h=640&crop=1", "email": "alicia.adamczyk@moneymail.com", "sameAs": [ "https://x.com/aliciaadamczyk" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2015-06-10T14:43:15.000Z", "description": "The airline industry increased its projected net profits for 2015, but the profit margin is just 4%, a averaging a mere $8.27 per passenger on a flight. 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