The Ethics of Excess

A few days ago there was an article about the new Airbus A380 jumbo jet, and how the first customer to roll one out (Singapore Airlines) was planning to use them on the Sidney to Singapore run, configured for about 480 passengers in a variety of classes. The article made a big fuss over the private compartments available in first class; effectively private cabins that can be configured to hold a double bed if two travelers want to sleep during the flight. Anyone who has ever endured a long over-water flight in coach knows that the two biggest luxuries imaginable in air travel are the ability to get comfortable and privacy, because neither one is going to happen when you’re flying in the steerage. If you have the $10,000 to spend, however, you can get a flying hotel room aboard Singapore Airline’s new planes.

What makes this a question of ethics is that most travelers do not have an extra $10,000 to spend on air travel; for that amount of money you could probably take 20 or 30 of your closest friends along on the trip – or get a really nice hotel and then pay your rent for six months when you get back. Since an A380 could be configured to carry over 800 passengers in coach seats (which are still much larger and roomier than standard coach accommodations on any other airliner), a carrier could theoretically use these aircraft to lower the cost per passenger, allowing people who could not normally afford to travel by air to conduct business, visit family members, or simply see more of the world. Since the aircraft are more efficient, the company could still make more money than they would by operating an older vehicle over the same route while benefiting the public.

Unfortunately, airlines (like most for-profit companies) are not in business to benefit the public; they are in business to make money, and as much of it as possible. And the simple fact is, an airline can make more money carrying one luxury passenger at $10,000 per ticket than it can carrying 30 coach passengers at $300 a ticket, not to mention the savings in fuel because the one passenger is 30 times lighter. As long as the airline can sell all of its private compartments and first-class seats (and business-class seats, which are also more profitable than the equivalent cubic space of coach seats), it will make far more money than it would by hauling larger numbers of economy-class passengers. So far, the novelty of the new airplane has make it relatively easy to book all of the available seats, and Singapore Airlines is anticipating 90% or more of capacity on every flight for months to come.

Of course, the increase in travelers of any economic level is good for whatever destination they travel to, and the fact that the company is making a profit will increase their stock price, improve the fortunes of their stockholders, enable them to hire more people and pay better wages, and generally improve the economy of any country in which an airline using these airplanes is operating, so it could be argued that the strategy Singapore Airlines has chosen is also benefiting the public. The real question would appear to be, does the airline have any ethical responsibility to provide the public with cheaper transportation? Or should it follow a purely capitalist ideal and just provide its product at whatever price people are willing to pay for it?

It’s worth thinking about…