Hangar6 - it's not just one way though, that is the way competition works. It perplexes me that some people argue the points that you do. You are basically saying that Wizz having a monopoly would be good, but on the other hand that FR and EI should be separate since a monopoly as well. Which one is it?
You need to look at this from the Polish side of things rather than the Irish side of it, FR and W6 have been duplicating each others routes pretty much for the last year now trying to win the battle for supremacy in Poland. Wizz have rather sensibly tried to tap in further east where they are much better known than Ryanair with the last few routes they have launched.
Both sides (FR and W6) have been pricing flights well under €10 each way on many routes, with flights going as low as a euro or even less on some occasions. On some Wizz has introduced services on FR routes whilst on others the other way around, people seem to think that just FR but it isn't the case.
Also Wizz charging for standard size hand luggage is unlikely to have worked in their favour, I thought that was somewhat of a foolish move tactically myself unless they were sure that FR for example were set to do the same thing which wouldn't have impacted them so much. Now for me it's an extra 20 euro on top of a flight with Wizz before I start.
I do agree that monopolies generally do push prices up. Look at Aer Lingus flights Dublin to Warsaw, since FR started operating on that route we've seen such flights come down by a good chunk since normally prior to that you were paying 80-90 euro minimum for almost all flights. But at the same time charging the prices that Wizz and FR have been is never going to be sustainable long term.
In commercial aviation there will always be people lowering prices in order to try and get ahead of their competition or beat them commercially, which is where cost base and economies of scale are going to help. That is not just unique to the aviation world however, it's commonplace everywhere and is just business.
Last edited by DublinPole; 6th Mar 2013 at 18:09.