Most of you guys are doing nothing but shooting the messenger, ranting like children who refuse to listen. We may not like Ryanairs MOs, but the facts speak for themselves. Pointing out what crap working conditions exists there doesn't change a god-damn thing; that's not the point of the post unless you're all advocating not joining this profession in the first place (which may not be such bad advice incidentally). The past is the past, and the future of Scandinavia sadly belongs to operators such as MOL. In fact, we are about as perfect a market for his business as you can get.
- We have loads of money, and gladly spent a dollar to save a dime.
- We have little acceptance for "class-differences"
- We force our leaders, managers, governments and coworkers to fly as cheaply as humanly possible. Why should they get anything better than us?
- We have $hitloads of time, with which we gladly sit on buses for hours to save a cent.
- Brand loyalty goes only as deep as the price.
- Travel and vacation is our human right; we've reached the top of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Unnecessary travel is status.
Now, one can stick his head in the sand and wait for the good old days to return, in which case it's only a matter of time before your days are up, or you join "the dark side." There is no third option; the entire world can't fly around in green turboprops on government subsidies.
If you want to stay close to home and fly something without boots on the wings, then Lowcost is where you'll (sadly) be. Otherwise, leave the safety of the shore and seek your fortunes with one of the remaining legacy carriers; who will surivive on their front-ends and political ties alone. Do you honestly believe Lufthansa will start up domestic operations in Sweden and Norway? Or BA? Or that Norwegian can both improve their terms and conditions while at the same time remain competitive to operators such as Ryanair for the next 25 years? Or that a new "legacy" airline will ever be launched in Europe, never mind Scandinavia?
We're never getting back to what we once had. The writing is on the wall, even without RYR-738-JOCKEYs posts. I never said I liked it.
Tomorrow your cap will be sponsored by Coca Cola, and your crew bag by Red-Bull. And MOL's guns will turn towards Norwegian, Cimber or whoever else puts their head above the horizon once SAS has been sunk.
Last edited by Cloud surfer; 28th Nov 2009 at 05:20.