Originally Posted by
airhumberside
I take it one advantage Wizz has over FR is Eastern European bases, with crew being cheaper to employ in Eastern rather Western Europe
Let's notice however that nothing would stop FR from basing some aircrafts in Central-Eastern Europe almost immediately if they just decided to. Ryanair instead prefers to haggle about the conditions (airport fees and alike) making very few progress in that matter. The crew and maintenance are cheaper now, but in a few years the costs of creating and keeping the bases will rise in this area as well. It's up to Ryanair will they be fast enough to enjoy these lower costs of labour or will they be late. Not every airport in, say, Poland, is as pricey as Warsaw or Krakow. Others like Wroclaw, Poznan, Gdansk or Lodz are much cheaper and I'd believe, they are prepared to struck a deal.