What will end in tears?

[willy wombat]

There is a lot of interesting stuff about to happen. DY entering the Scottish transatlantic market already being met by capacity increases from the incumbents. Will the weak pound attract sufficient US originating traffic to compensate for the low ex UK yields? Not to mention down at Southend Stobarts adding jets to its own airline to start a load of new routes from its own airport. Add to this IAG starting a low cost long haul loco while degrading the product of what should be its flagship, BA. Who's a genius and who's lost the plot? What will work and what will end in tears? Discuss

[kcockayne]

Haven't you heard ? It will all end in tears !

[nguba]

Well IAG is not risking much by setting up low cost long-haul in BCN. A cursory glance at DY's balance sheet says it has a lot to prove in terms of long-term financial profitability.

It's clear from comments by a lot of airlines on both sides of the Atlantic that they see technology facilitating much greater market segmentation.

The "one size fits all / take it or leave it" economy product is becoming a thing of the past. I would put money on BA trailing an unbundled World Traveller product at LGW this year.

From anecdotal evidence, Norwegian and, to a lesser extent, WestJet have stimulated a lot of interest from the public, particularly those who are very price sensitive and price is the sole determinant of whether they take a trip or not. This is particularly amongst VFR passengers and those who are bound by school holidays.

I think IAG is responding to having seen how Norwegian has used price to generate new demand, much in the same way the LCCs did in Europe from the late 1990s.

On the flip side the gulf between the back and front of the plane is getting bigger. It was reported yesterday that BA is planning to introduce dining on demand in Club World and, as part of this, only allowing crew who are trained in the new service routines, to work in the cabin. This would have been completely unthinkable just a few years ago.

[SWBKCB]

People starting random threads covering points already discussed good in ones which already exist