Lowcost future

[Albicilla]

Ladies and gentlemen.

There have been noumerous articles in the media the latest days about increasing focus on terms and conditions. The Norwegian conflict, Ryanairs pilots, taxes and MOL threatening to cut pay or pull out of Norway, Ryanair boycott in Billund etc.

Are we seing the start of a new era, or a mere bump in the road for the lowcost shotcallers?

Comments please!

[onyxcrowle]

Doesn't This airline do this a lot though ? . Make a big show and fuss and pull out en masse from an airport , Alicante for example !

[Albicilla]

Yes there have been temper tantrums, but this time its the norwegian tax authorities, and the unions raising their voices. A union boycott in Billund for instence means noone will touch ryanair coustomers or aircraft.

[jackx123]

SAS recently announced it will get new buses to cut fuel cost with 15-20%. Considering Norwegian, Ryanair etc has done this already it will be hard for SAS to catch up the cost curve.

And as the little irishman stated "SAS needs to cut costs drastically" and "there will only be 4 airlines remaining in europe". good luck.

[Guttn]

Cutting costs is a term that has become very worn (to me at least). What airlines need to be doing is make a profit! They also need to stop sabotaging each other by competing in the great race to the bottom. In turn, maybe, just maybe, pilots stand a chance at negotiating better T&Cs in the long run. This near-strike by the NAS pilots union, with almost all other unionized pilots in Europe, was a huge step in that direction, but unfortunately it appears they folded near the finish line :ugh:
There was, however, demonstrations by pilots and cabin crew in CGN on the 14th, so all hope is not gone :D

[Tableview]

Norwegian Air places huge plane order in recovery bet | Reuters (http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/25/uk-norwegianair-idUSLNE80O01T20120125)

They seem pretty confident of the future, but with SAS stuck in a timewarp, they're not really up against much competition.

[jackx123]

Well IMHO its just a matter of time before European airlines have to suck it up. All costs being pretty much equal, i.e. aircrafts, fuel, fees, insurance etc, the remaining open is HR.