Question

Cold Duck Airlines flies between Tacoma and Portland. The company leases planes on a year-long contract at a cost that averages $600 per flight. Other costs (fuel, flight attendants, etc.) amount to $550 per flight. Currently, Cold Duck's revenues are $1,000 per flight. All prices and costs are expected to continue at their present levels. If it wants to maximize profit, Cold Duck Airlines should:

Answer 1

Answer:The Firm should continue to produce up until Revenue generated equals Marginal Cost. Cold Duck Company would maximize profit when the number of flights is in a level when Revenue equals Marginal cost which is the same as variable costs in this case.

Explanation:

Cold duck Airlines leases plane on a year long contract at an average cost of $600 per flight.The average cost of $600 per flight is calculated as Lease cost per year divided by number of flights. This tells us that the lease cost per year is fixed and the $600 average  cost per flight is the Average Fixed cost. if Cold duck flies more planes between Tacoma and Portland The number flights will increase which will decrease the average lease cost per flight.

Other Costs fuel (flight attendants,etc) amount to $550 per flight, these costs will increase as Cold Duck Airlines increases flights between Tacoma and Portland. These costs should be treated as Variable costs because they increase as the number flights increases.

The revenue generated on each flight, which can be seen as the price for each flight is $1000.

The Firm maximizes its profits in a competitive market by producing a quantity level That makes Price equals Marginal cost, Marginal cost being the price of producing an additional unit, in this case is the cost of an additional flight which is $550 amount of other costs  because lease cost fixed  whether Cold Duck Makes 1 flight or 10 flights it doesnot change

The Firm should continue to produce up until Revenue generated equals Marginal Cost. Cold Duck Company would maximize profit when the number of flights is in a level when Revenue equals Marginal cost which is the same as variable costs in this case. Revenue would be equal to $550 when profit is at the maximum level

Answer 2

Answer:

D) continue flying until the lease expires and then drop the run.

Explanation:

Currently Cold Duck Airlines is losing money:

• total revenue < total costs

It only gets $1,000 in revenue per flight but spends $1,150 per flight (net loss of $150 per flight).

They should continue flying only until the lease contract expires. Usually lease contracts apply penalties if they are terminated early. We don't know the penalty amount but still it is never good to breach a contract.

We could also consider the lease payments as fixed costs, but still the equation at the end will not change, the company will continue to lose money. The difference is that variable costs are covered, if they weren't, the company should stop flying immediately.