European Airline Industry.

[B767PL]

How is it different from the airline industry in the U.S?

Aside from the better service, better treatment of passengers, prettier F/As, better treatment of their employees, as well as in general for the most part it seems better run airlines.

Why are all these so? Is the market in Europe regulated in any way? By whom? The U.S is a deregulated industry, and it is a complete mess. The industry in the U.S needs to be reregulated if it is to improve, otherwise it will just be more of the same junk. Are most of the National major airlines fully owned, or privatized? For example, Air France/KLM, Lufthansa, Iberia, BA, etc.

Why are European airlines so much better to travel on and work for.. or any airlines throughout the world for that matter better then U.S airlines?

[RAFAT]

B767PL - please allow me to offer you a like-for-like Europe/US comparison that blows some of your points right out of the water.

I give you Southwest Airlines vs Ryanair.

Here are some comments about Southwest gleened from a quick scan of the internet :

Everyone is happy. They all kiss and hug, even President Colleen Barrett and CEO Gary Kelly.

Average Southwest employees like the big bosses. They want to get their picture taken with Kelly. They admire him.

Kelly says the difference between his company and others is simple: "People working together, people lovin' each other, people respecting each other."

Southwest Airlines has never had a layoff, it's never cut salaries. In fact, it's one of the best-paid, most highly-unionized airlines in the industry. What makes it so successful? A smart business plan, of course, but there is something else that Southwest deems crucial - "You put your employees first and if you take care of them, then they will take good care of you," Herb Kelleher, the airline's chairman, said. "Then your customers will come back, and your shareholders will like that, so it's really a unity."

......and as for Ryanair, I think no more needs to be said!

[B767PL]

Thanks RAFAT interesting read, and I agree. If your employees are happy, then the company does well also.

So basically then you are somewhat saying, correct me if I am wrong. That airlines in Europe (at least the major national carriers) treat their employees better then do the U.S airlines? I do not really know how airline-employee relations are in Europe. But I am quite confident that most airline employees in the U.S dislike their employer, and are generally unhappy with the way things are handled, and the way they are treated.

[RAFAT]

So basically then you are somewhat saying, correct me if I am wrong. That airlines in Europe (at least the major national carriers) treat their employees better then do the U.S airlines?

I'm sure there'll be plenty of people on here who have an opinion on this and may have seen both sides of the coin, let's await their views. :ok:

[B767PL]

European Low Fares Airline Assn. called on new European Commissioner-designate for Transport Siim Kallas of Estonia to revive the "pro-competition course" on which the EU embarked when it liberalized market access for air transport but which, according to ELFAA, has stagnated in recent years with the Commission "engaging in re-regulation of aviation--often in response to protectionist calls from legacy incumbent airlines." ELFAA Secretary General John Hanlon said the organization "urges the Commissioner to stamp out, once and for all, the practice of state aid for ailing national carriers. In such cases the airlines in question must be permitted to simply exit the market for which they are no longer fit."

It also urged Kallas to extend to airports and ATM providers the liberalization it "successfully imposed" on airlines, arguing this would result "in a more genuinely competitive environment between airports and, for the first time, introduce competition in the provision of ATM services, which remains the prerogative of monopoly suppliers."

Kallas told the European Parliament at his 3-hr. confirmation hearing yesterday that he is "in favor of a single EU regulation on body scanners," noting that "it is very bad that some member states already use body scanners in the absence of any EU common standards." He said full-body scanners can increase security, "but no measure is 100% sure. . .body scanners are not the panacea for airline security" (ATWOnline, Jan. 14). Kallas currently serves as commissioner for administrative affairs, audit and antifraud and was prime minister of Estonia in 2002-03.

ATW Daily News (http://atwonline.com/news/other.html?issueDate=1%2F15%2F2010)

[FRying]

Exactly.

By the way, is Ryanair battling against their very own subsidies they receive from local governments ? That's millions.