have low cost operators damaged the industry?
SLF here so feel free to treat with contempt or delete as appropriate!!
My daughter is cabin crew at Astraeus, and like most of her colleagues is about to loose her job it seems, mainly because many airlines are finding it increasingly difficult to make money in the current market.
Reading through many of the airline threads there appears to be widespread dissatisfaction with nearly all carriers at the moment, much of which appears to be driven by the long hours, low pay and unfavourable shift patterns driven by the need to make money whilst offering very low fares.
As a businessman I must ask is it sustainable to offer £30 fares or lower on an aircraft that costs $100m, requires qualified crew for safety and of course must be fueled (ever increasing) and maintained to a high standard. Any delay requires pax to be accommodated at high cost, and if you add all this together you can appreciate just how hard it is for many airlines to make ends meet.
I suspect that even the 2 leading low cost carriers could quickly start to loose money, if occupancy levels fall even slightly.
In short have the low cost carriers done the industry more harm than good?