Although many countries continue to operate state-owned or parastatal airlines, many large airlines today are privately owned and are therefore governed by microeconomic principles to maximize shareholder profit.
虽然许多国家依然维持国有或者半国有的航空公司，但是今天许多大航空公司是私有的，因此它们的操作是按照微经济提高股东盈利的原则进行的。