Articles tagged “low-cost carriers”

The distinction between low-cost carrier and legacy airline has been crumbling for sometime as airlines such as Vueling pursue business travelers with gusto.

Business travelers tend to like low cost carriers more than their managed travel programs do. Corporations would be smart to take a closer look at the LCCs, when possible.

Despite the backing of EasyJet, FastJet still has lots of homework to do before its ambitions match reality.

In the case of Vietnamese budget airlines, quantity outweighs quality. Despite JetStar’s five-year headstart, its recent focus on fleet renewal slowed operations as VietJet surged ahead with plans to expand routes.

While JAL was busy collapsing, getting a bailout, and then prepping for a multi-billion IPO, budget carriers were slowly insinuating themselves into the market and letting consumers know they didn't need to spend big to go far.

While it started as a government-mandated cost-cutting move for Air Canada, it seems to be the way to put some new life into the company, after a miserable year.

Chinese regulations tailored to keep state-owned airlines on top actually hurt domestic tourism by keeping prices high and options limited, although foreign budget airlines flying within China provide travelers some relief.

For an airline that prides itself on stellar service, competing with the easyJets of the world requires more re-thinking than just dropping ticket prices by €20 or they'll end up disappointing both new and old customers in equal measure.

Between LAN's acquisition of GOL's Brazilian rival TAM, currency worries and rising fuel costs, GOL faces stiff headwinds. Whether auto exec and new CEO Paul Kakinoff can turbo-charge a turnaround remains to be seen.

As strikes during the summer in Europe go, this one is pretty tame. What ever happened to a country-wide transit strike that cripples transport in Greece, France, Italy, or Spain?