Airlines made an average of $13 per passenger as of 2025

Find out how airlines quietly became banks

Some experts suggest airlines lose money on every flight. This video dives into how airlines have leveraged their loyalty programs to make billions of dollars, effectively evolving into banks.

Nearly 3 million people fly in and out of US airports every day

However, not all of those passengers generate revenue for the airlines they purchase their tickets from. One business class traveler typically pays for five to six economy travelers. That's partly because airlines measure profit by the square foot, and although a business class seat is usually roughly 30% roomier than economy seats, the business class traveler usually pays about three times as much as someone sitting in economy.

Southwest Airlines was profitable for nearly 5 decades

Business History hosts Jacob Goldstein and Robert Smith explore how a carrier with just four airplanes shuttling across Texas revolutionized flying by offering free whiskey, cheap late-night tickets, and free-for-all seating allocation, despite how hard it is to make money running an airline. However, the success story didn't last forever.

Commercial air travel's early days: Flights were short, cold, depressurized, and generally comfortable

After World War II, airlines competed for their high-end passengers by offering cocktails, meals, and plush seats, cultivating the image of the elite "Jet Set." By the 1960s, air transport was completely changing global trade and offering big profits to companies able to ship via plane.

See a visual of the largest airlines in the US by market share

As of November 2024, Delta Airlines controlled roughly 17.8% of US airline market share, while American Airlines controlled about 17.5%, and Southwest controlled about 17.3%. Spirit Airlines, which would go on to shutter operations in 2026, controlled less than 5% of US airline industry market share at the time.

Who actually pays for your credit card rewards?

In 2018, 92% of all credit card spending was made on a rewards card, which seems like a good deal to many who apply for rewards cards offering discounted flights, points, and more. But in actuality, the customers are often the ones who end up paying for the rewards in the grand scheme of things.

Jet fuel is expensive—which is one reason why it's tough to make an airline profitable

Jet fuel is typically a commercial airline's second-largest expense, second only to labor. Oil prices can be volatile—there have been recent significant increases in jet fuel prices given the 2026 Iran conflict, for instance.

Airbus is a rare European industrial success story that overtook a rival American firm

After World War II, the US dominated aviation, particularly Boeing. To compete, Europe's major industrial nations pooled resources to form Airbus, a customer-centric airplane manufacturer. Its A320 family of planes became the most popular in airliner history, leading to profitability in the 1990s. Amid Boeing's major hurdles in recent years, Airbus remains the industry leader.

In 2013, American Express became the first credit card company to open an airport lounge

American Express opened its first airport lounge, the Centurion, in Las Vegas more than a decade ago. Since then, not only has American Express increased the number of lounges it has in airports across the country, but other credit card companies have also opened lounges.

Learn about the bodies that govern the US commercial airline industry, such as the FAA

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulates US air travel, monitoring both safety and advancement. But despite deregulation in the 1970s, the industry has other governing bodies, too, including the US Department of Transportation and the TSA.

More than 650 companies went public in the US in 1996

As the dot-com bubble reached its peak, most dot-com companies went public with little proof of being profitable and were often overvalued. In 1999, the Nasdaq's price-to-earnings ratio (a tool used to determine a stock's value that divides its price by earnings) hit 90.2, signaling that many companies were operating at a net loss. Startups promised investors that more time and money would help scale their businesses and become profitable.

College football generates over $11B annually—but many programs run at a loss

Despite total revenues surpassing $11.5B in 2024, college football’s high operating costs—$14.5B in the same year—mean only a handful of top programs turn large profits, while most run at a loss.

An oligopoly is a market structure where a few large businesses dominate the entire market

When a few large companies dominate a market, changes in pricing for goods and services affect the entire market. Airlines are a common example of an oligopoly. Because the barrier to entry in the aviation industry is high, only a few airline companies offer the majority of the industry's services. While there is some competition, pricing across the board is largely intertwined and based on other companies' prices.

Nike made $126M in the first year of Air Jordan sales

The first pair of Air Jordans hit shelves in 1985 for $65. The company expected to sell $3M worth of shoes in the first three years, but ultimately blew past that goal in the first year of sales.

Angel investors funded startups with nearly $28B in 2024

Statistics about the angel investing market show that billions are spent funding early-stage startups each year. Companies with more angel interest had higher success rates.

The North American waste management market was worth $208B in 2019

Burning waste to generate energy is a $10B industry in the US alone. A growing number of major companies—including Amazon, Subaru, and American Airlines—are pursuing "zero landfill" sustainability goals.

The dating app industry's average customer acquisition cost exceeds $40 per user

This relatively high cost of customer acquisition (according to 2022 data from saturated markets) makes profitable growth increasingly difficult for dating apps, which is why many have pivoted to focusing on their subscription tiers for reliable revenue.

The median trademark of public companies in the US is worth $22.5M

There are multiple approaches to evaluating the value of a trademark. Some strategies include analyzing the value of royalty payments a trademark produces and the cost of recreating the trademark or brand.

Roller coasters can cost millions of dollars to make, but they often offer a substantial payoff

Over 6,000 roller coasters are in operation around the world as of 2025, with ongoing demand to build more each year. Despite being costly (some theme parks pay upwards of $50M for these rides), their financiers are able to justify the investment when considering the long-term value of a ride that sticks around for decades with daily streams of visitors.

One estimate values concierge services at $38.9B by 2032

Data Horizons Research put the value of this global market at $18.9B in 2021, but anticipates massive growth by 2032, with North America comprising the majority of the market. Chronic health conditions, their analysis suggests, will be a contributing factor to this growth as medically complex individuals seek more personalized care.

American CEOs getting super rich has a lot to do with stock buybacks

In 1965, the pay gap between American CEOs and their workers was roughly 15-to-1. But by 2018, that ratio had ballooned to 220-to-1.

The face value of a Super Bowl ticket rose 136% from 2016-26

At Levi’s Stadium, which first hosted the Super Bowl in 2016, face-value lower-bowl end zone seats increased from $1,800 to $4,250 by 2026, while price tiers expanded and the overall cost of attendance skyrocketed.

Entry-level investment bankers boast $200K paychecks, but it's not all base salary

These days, a first-year analyst typically makes closer to $100K per year as their base salary, but is eligible to receive significant bonuses on top of that.

In 2024, the league signed a 11-year deal with Disney, Amazon, and NBC Universal

The $2.2B deal was widely applauded in the media, but the Players Association questioned how the NBA arrived at the valuation and why the deal gives players less than 10% of total revenue compared to the NBA’s 50%.

How student loans became incredibly prevalent

As of 2024, the total outstanding federal student loan debt sat at $1.6T, held by almost 43 million borrowers. Explore the history of student loans and how they became prevalent in the US, as told by several influential actors in the creation of the program over the years.

Dozens of S&P 500 stocks, including Coca-Cola and Walmart—known as the dividend aristocrats—have increased dividends every year for 25 years

US consumers collectively owe more than $1T to credit card companies—almost as much as they owe in auto loans.

How Amazon operates a 'flywheel' business model, a self-reinforcing cycle that drives continuous growth

The USPS spent $3.97B in 2024, accounting for .058% of the federal budget.

Venture capital is a form of funding provided to early-stage companies with high growth potential, typically in exchange for an equity (or ownership) stake

The price of gas is a composite made up of several different factors, with the federal gas tax making up less than 20% of what drivers pay at the pump.

The American Society of Civil Engineers' infrastructure report card gave the US a C in 2025, its highest grade since the project launched in 1998.

While the first exchange-traded fund (a 'basket' of different assets that can be bought and sold on a stock exchange) in the US only launched in 1993, the global ETF market has grown to more than $10T in the short time since.

The most expensive ad of all time was for Chanel No. 5 perfume and cost roughly $33M to produce in 2004—about $57M in today's dollars.

About 2,000 US babies are born annually without some portion of their limbs, potentially leading to a lifetime of pricey prosthetics.

Use this calculator to find the dollar value of your mental load, from meal planning to coordinating after-school care for your children.

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

After 25 people used virtual reality headsets to practice flying with virtual wings—flapping their arms—their visual cortex responded to the wings almost as if they were real arms, treating them as body parts.

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.

Track the location of the Voyager probes, currently between 13 and 15 billion miles away from Earth.

Domino's Pizza's 30-minute delivery guarantee was responsible for the chain's 1980s surge, but it was discontinued after the company was found liable for delivery driver accidents.

44% of Americans say they pray at least once a day—discover how your state's religiosity stacks up against the rest of the country.

20,000 letters to the advice columnist 'Dear Abby' provide insight into prevailing sex, religion, and LGBTQ fears, anxieties, and concerns from the 1950s onward.

English mathematician Ada Lovelace wrote the first computer algorithm a century before computers existed and hypothesized that computing devices would one day be able to compose music—foreseeing the generative AI systems of today.

Jimmy Carter signed a 1978 bill that legalized home brewing, a move credited with kick-starting the craft beer industry.

The boiling temperature of water decreases with increasing elevation because the molecules need less energy to overcome the lower atmospheric pressure associated with thinner air.

Power lines are dotted with large, brightly colored balls to improve the visibility of these thin wires to helicopters and small planes and help prevent potential crashes.

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

The American cockroach is actually from Africa, an apparent hitchhiker aboard ships carrying enslaved people, with evidence suggesting the bug may have arrived in the New World as early as the 1600s.