Why Europe’s Short-Haul Aviation Market Is in Flux
Skift Take
Too many airlines fighting over what is essentially a single market has been a familiar complaint within the European airline industry over the last few years. The legacy airlines, in particular, are still working out how best to compete.
Flying within Europe was once a pretty expensive affair. National flag carriers enjoyed route monopolies and could charge whatever they wanted — that is, until the European Union created a single market leading to a boom in low-cost carriers.
Not only was it cheaper to travel but there were now more places to travel to. Small regional airports were eager to do deals with these new airlines, especially with the promise of hundreds of new visitors arriving on every flight.
As the likes of EasyJet and Ryanair have grown, they've seen off much of the competition while also putting pressure on the established legacy carriers like Lufthansa, Air France, and British Airways. But now a series of challenges is putting the whole market under pressure.
Ryanair recently reported a 24 percent fall in pretax profit. It's still making lots of money but is feeling the pain and expects others to suffer even more over the upcoming winter season.
“I think we're going to see more airline failures and consolidation over the next number of months. The current high fuel environment, particularly for the unhedged carriers, is going to
