unsurprising...
IF I were the FL group I'd be pulling my muney out and running back to Iceland as well. U2 face a period of turmoil. Since they took over GO in an ego fuled attempt to out grow FR costs have soared, and fares have too. Crews are all poorly turned out and trained.
Take the decision to to kit out the A319s in a 156 pax layout...it required structural changes to the aircraft and required an extra crew mwmber to be carried, yet only 7 more pax seats are available...not so cost effective, me thinks...
U2 737-300/700 crew to pax ratio 49.667:1
U2 A319 crew to pax ratio 39:1
FR 737-800 crew to pax ratio 47.25
no matter how badly paid the crews may be costs on a per seat basis wil always be higher for easyJet, add this to the need for airstairs and the bizzare use of airbridges, and thing get worse.
U2 has tried to position itself away from its tradtional niche, and to appeal to business passengers, this wont work, business passengers want flexability and service, not a constant birrage of selling and scowling, and cheap catch phrases...c'mon lets fly...(with someone else)