## You Are The Byproduct

When you board a massive Boeing 777 to fly from London to Singapore, you look around the cabin and assume the 300 passengers are paying for the flight. In reality, modern commercial wide-body jets are frequently just cargo planes where the airline bolted seats to the roof to subsidize the fuel.

### FAQ

**Q: Why do airlines keep flying routes that are consistently half-empty?**
A: Belly Cargo. The passenger airline business is notoriously terrible, operating on razor-thin 4% margins. Baggage handling, flight attendants, and unpredictable ticket pricing destroy profitability. However, beneath your feet is a massive, temperature-controlled cargo hold (The "Belly"). Supply chains will gladly pay huge premiums ($6.50+ per pound) to strap pallets of high-margin electronics, pharmaceuticals, and fresh salmon into that hold. Because the airplane is already flying the route, the marginal cost of adding a pallet of iPhones is zero. Cargo operates at margins near 35%. On many international flights, the five pallets of freight sitting quietly under the floorboards literally generate more net profit for the airline than the 300 screaming humans sitting above them.