MerchantVenturer
27th Mar 2005, 16:19
Michael O'Leary forecast a bloodbath in the lowcost airline sector this winter. Has it been?
As an industry outsider it seems from my position that Ryanair, easyJet, Jet2, Thomsonfly and Flybe are all expanding routes. Not sure about bmibaby.
I have mentioned the UK and Irish airlines although I believe that one or two mainland European ones such as Volare have foundered.
Did MOL over-egg the situation or was it simply headline-grabbing rhetoric or is the bloodbath merely taking longer to come about?
10 DME ARC
27th Mar 2005, 18:24
Yes we had MoL fly over to NCL in a very nice new 800 series to promote the new BGY service, spent most of his time talking about the low cost blood bath! In the press BGY was totally forgotten about and the blood bath etc made the press!
Totally negative publicity, I had people asking me if Ryanair were in trouble and should they book with them!
:)
jabird
27th Mar 2005, 21:27
MV,
I think there are still some very questionable airlines out there, but many of the UK based operators have their niches, which they should no doubt be able to build on.
Providing each one sticks to what they do best, there is room for all of them, and only a small number of passengers who will actually decide between one or the other, rather than go with whichever airline offers the closest route from their local airport.
Consider:
Ryanair - cut costs to the bone & fly to out of the way "Ryanairports". Largest margins, safest long term business plan, as long as they don't p*** off too many people!
Easyjet - middle of the market low-ish fares to/from major airports.
Baby, Jet 2, Globespan & Thomsonfly - niche operators from the regions - possible merger contenders as all are 737 operators?
Flybe - strong domestic regional network with European links; only serious player in sub-100 seat loco market.
Ryanair like to slag off everyone they can, whenever they can. There is much more mileage in bad news - try supporting a local development proposal, and see how much more coverage the anti lobby get! Every time Ryanair get mentioned, and suckers like us talk about them, that is free publicity, which the other airlines don't get. It may backfire on them one day, but by the time it does, they will probably have grown to a sufficient size not to be bothered about it.