None of which affects me as I fly alone and with a single rucksack, however that's not most people. I ask again, where the market has seen this in action for a long time, ie in the UK, Ryanair are in retreat. Good riddance to them as well! I agree they've done amazing things to bring down the cost of flying, however they just don't know where to draw the line. Publically challenging a wheelchair service cost is a clue.
There will never be another airport terminal if this model is allowed to grow as the revenue won't be going to the operator. Ryanair forced out all competition at Shannon and now look what happened when the market proved unsustainable. Traffic collapsed and there was no Plan B as no other airline would risk SNN with an FR base. Same with PIK I think.
In the UK every airline has been in retreat but as pretty much history tells us that the Airline industry is cyclical. The difference in FR's case is that it has growth opportunities elsewhere to avail of in the downturn.
The last 2 yrs have seen the private sector get it in incomes and jobs, the next 2 its the public sector but in circa 2 years things will change thats not counting the growth from London 2012.
The days of airports being a shopping centre with a runway attached are hopefully gone because the majority of passengers have always wanted to get from A to B quickly and not spent hours sitting in a shopping centre while the airport thinks up other ways to screw money out of them. The retail specialists have earned millions from BAA in funneling people directly into shops, reducing available seating and effectively making it impossible for a person to get through security and direct to a gate without have to go past shop after shop.
I notice you seem to feel that only since the advent of Ryanair have passengers been hard done by, funny that as I can never remember cheap drop off parking at UK's main airports nor can i remember getting value for money food either but I think everybody remembers the extortionate fares with the Saturday night stay requirement a must.
The idea that the industry is a mature one is a bit of a fallacy as kids who have grown up with cheap fares may end up not having that for a few years as family incomes drop, inevitable though given the spending splurge on credit for last 15 years. Ultimately they are the next generation of passengers who not surprisingly will grab the opportunity when old enough to take advantage of visiting wherever they wish. Recessions don't last for ever despite the actions of Governments.
FR's business model relies on being able to move its assets around to get the best return. I can think of few businesses (aside from Cruise industry) that have the opportunity to move capital assets around countries to seek the best return with little or no financial penalty. Labour has always been flexible but rarely Capital assets.
What is funny though is that IF anybody wishes to track back 18 months then the very same people hoping for Ryanairs demise were claiming that adding 40 new 738's to their fleet was impossible and the sky would fall in. They added that plus a few more since and guess what the sky is still there.
I look around at the other airlines serving UK and see their position and lets see
LH - struggling to injest over paid for acquisitions like BMI etc
BA / Iberia - Pension fund with wings with inherent major structural problems that will not go away easily, BA side struggling for funds for new planes
Easyjet - a court fight between founder and company that will go on and on, a new boss who ran a paper, funny why experienced airline people stayed away from the job, risk of implosion and name change is 20/80 but as witnessed on here there are staffing issues
US airlines - Chapter 11 revolving doors
Aer Lingus - new strategy every 6-9 months while blowing hundreds of millions of euros on sacking staff, pointless expansion and covering losses
Flybe - decent niche operator but will get gobbled up eventually which if done by Legacy will not work
AF/KLM - protected domestically in France but that won't last for ever and KLM weak because its a small part of the unit and French don't do partnerships very well
FR - retirement of MO'L prob biggest risk but then again someone following same mantle but with investment in customer service weaknesses and then where does that leave the detractors............making up more reasons to hate them I guess.