3 Failing Strategies Behind European Legacy Airlines' Battle With Ryanair

IAG adopted Vueling, Lufthansa is stretching its Germanwings, and Air France/KLM and SAS veer closer to the low-cost carrier operating model with each passing day, but are these moves by Europe's proud eagles enough to ward off the biggest of the low-cost carrier crows feasting on their crops? Nope. Ryanair reported record profit after tax growth of +152% for its first quarter 2014, carrying 23.2 million passengers and maintaining 86% load factors. The airline cautions that these impressive figures were boosted by a strong Easter, but—these impressive figures were boosted by a strong Easter. Easter is a key holiday period for Europeans. For Ryanair—popular with millions of holiday-makers because of its cheap fares—to feast in this season is to be expected, but their large share of this market is at the heart of the legacies' troubles. In the Easter month of April 2014, Ryanair carried 7.8 million passengers, maintaining 84% load factors. By comparison, the Lufthansa Group (Lufthansa Airlines, SWISS, Austrian) 8.6 million at 79.5% load factors. Lufthansa Regional and Germanwings combin