The aviation industry has always been a bit of an investment paradox not just in India but even globally. Today, most of us cannot imagine a world without air travel. Then, why does this indispensable industry constantly flirt with bankruptcy? The short answer — high fixed costs and razor-thin margins. Despite the lure of a growing market, it is impossibly tough to make money.

Air Deccan could not sustain its low-fares proposition nor Kingfisher Airlines its top-class service. SpiceJet almost reached the brink of collapse and Jet Airways ran out of