Originally Posted by
mik3bravo
I see the airline conveniently blaming their collapse on Brexit. How convenient. Nothing at all to do with any other non-Brexit factors, really? I find that spin as complete denial, here is that
spin.
However, meanwhile, and separateky there are more balanced and less lazy journalism and comments:
Source
So basically, the cost cutting that should have been delivered over the past 5 years wasn't fully delivered and it seems convenient to point and oh, look over there, it's Brexit! Not creditable at all. Another example of management failure to aggressively and relentlessly squeeze costs out of the operation. It weakened their ability to withstand fuel price pressures and ATC strikes and chaos they caused. Yes, Brexit is 'one' factor, but the destruction was rooted in much deeper issues from the sound of it.
Isn't the problem that there only seems to be one commercial model for shorthaul and that is low-cost? I wrote an MBA thesis on small regional jets for BA when I worked for them (1991) but since then lo-co has dominated. It is to be expected that as an industry becomes more mature, everything will trend to the most efficient operating model and we have seen this in aeroplane design (all twins, engines under wings) as well as the commercial model which consists of the lowest seat/mile unit filled with anyone that will pay a contribution to its operating cost. Where the model will go next is up for debate. Probably a hybrid, ironically, of lo-co down the back and a better full-service up front. If you are paying for a fully flexible fare which includes bags and maybe a meal, then a bit more comfort would be nice, like BA from LGW where they are doing middle seat free. The difference is now that the operating costs have been squeezed to the lowest and the (bigger, optimally sized) aeroplane is full. Easyjet has often said that their culture is about low cost, so no mixed fleets for example. Just lots of the same, keeping costs down. This is the long run part of the product life cycle. So if FlyBE and Flybmi were not in this space they either had to change or go bust.