Skift Podcast: The Next Big Challenges for Low-Cost Airlines

Everyone is familiar by now with the low-cost carrier success stories: Ryanair, Southwest, easyJet, Wizz Air, and others with similar models are among the most profitable in the industry.

But low-cost doesn’t necessarily equal high-profit. It’s a tale of two types of flights: short-haul, which is a moneymaker for budget airlines, and long-haul, which has been a big loser.

This episode of the Skift Podcast explores the next big challenge for low-cost airlines: how to make long-haul flights make money.

This podcast was also our opportunity to showcase a new addition to the Skift family, the 14-year-old newsletter Airline Weekly. Seth Kaplan, the publication’s editor, joined Skift Senior Aviation Business Editor Brian Sumers to tackle the low-cost question.

They discussed the reasons low-cost short-haul flights are so profitable, and why that success doesn’t often translate to longer routes. They also dug into which budget airlines might try long-haul next — and who definitely will not.

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