10seconds gives a good summary of the way the airline market is changing generations. The old carriers have become top heavy and complacent, so new entrants replace them and then work their way up the scale. The old ones then close/bought out and the cycle starts again. Every area of commerce does it. As to the Europeans wise-ing up to the fact that they are getting a raw deal? I doubt it. Money is everything and - in the financial crisis that is now upon us - money will be twice the price it is now. (to coin a phrase).