Why are flights between major airports cheaper than to/from a smaller airport?

Question

With all else being roughly equal: direct flight, similar distance, same airline.

Yeah the supply is greater at major airports (in the form of more gates), but so is the demand. I’m struggling to see why that doesn’t balance out.

In: 3

Answer 1

It doesn’t balance out because of supply and demand. More flights generally means competition and that typically means lower costs.

Larger planes filled with more people are generally more cost efficient – think of the cost (per person) of driving a bus filled with 40 people vs the same trip in a car with only 2 persons.