Expensive fuel, maintenance, and labor don't help, nor do unpredictable setbacks outside the airline's control, like pandemic travel bans and production slowdowns at planemaker Boeing. But across the industry, many airlines are struggling to turn profits thanks to issues like overcapacity, unrelenting competition, and unexpectedly high costs, according to experts. Boeing delivery delays have eaten into profitsHarteveldt said Boeing's ongoing delivery delays have cost airlines like American, Southwest, and United millions of dollars. Airlines are plagued by high costs in an extremely competitive industryNearly everything is more expensive than it was before the pandemic, and airlines are no exception. For low-cost carriers like Frontier and Spirit, these high costs make it challenging to make money, Kraemer said.

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Persons: —, Henry Harteveldt, Scott Olson, Robert Isom, Bob Jordan, Harry Kraemer, Kraemer, You've, you've, Harteveldt, Joe Raedle, they've, Stephen Brashear, Eric Glenn, Shutterstock Harteveldt Organizations: Service, planemaker Boeing, Business, International Air Transport Association, —, Airlines, Getty, Reuters, Southwest, Elliott Investment Management, Baxter International, Corporations, Google, Spirit, Frontier, Boeing, JetBlue Airways, Airbus, Bureau of Labor Statistics Locations: Delta, United