No, I'm not overestimating the public, they want service, you get that from people, not machines.
WN IS a legacy airline, we will evolve, watch and learn grasshoper.
- The public wants low prices not service (of course they'd prefer both) - that's the whole reason SWA grew as fast as they did. No offense, but I think you'd agree that SWA offers very limited "service." They focus on ontime & cheap flights and that's exactly what the passengers get. No more & no less.
- No, SWA is not a legacy airline - although it is a major airline. The day SWA pilots take their first pay cuts (hopefully it’ll never happen, but…) will be the day SWA becomes a legacy airline!
As far as Skybus' big European sister airline, Ryan Air - they only seem to be getting bigger.
Link
Ryanair orders 27 Boeing jets
By Kevin Done, Aerospace Correspondent
Published: May 31 2007 22:08 | Last updated: May 31 2007 22:08
Ryanair, the Irish low-cost airline, has ordered another 27 Boeing jets, as it seeks to double passenger volumes and profits in the five years to 2012.
The leading European low-cost airline is aiming to overtake Air France-KLM and Germany’s Lufthansa to become the biggest short-haul carrier in Europe around the end of the decade.
Howard Millar, Ryanair chief financial officer, said on Thursday that with the latest batch of aircraft the airline had placed firm orders with Boeing for a total of
308 737-800s of which 137 had already been delivered. The latest order for 27 189-seat Boeing 737-800s is valued at $1.9bn at list prices before big discounts.
Including the planned disposal of older aircraft the Ryanair fleet would grow from 137 to 262 by 2012, said Mr Millar.
In line with the growth of the fleet the Irish carrier was aiming to increase passenger volumes from 42.5m in the year to March 2007 to 52m this year and to 87m in the year to March 2012.
The planned launch of its latest operating base in Bristol in November will bring the airline’s total bases to 20 across Europe, with six in the UK, three each in Germany, Ireland and Italy, two in Spain, and one each in Belgium, Sweden and France.
The Ryanair network is still dominated by London Stansted, its biggest base with 40 aircraft and 96 routes, and by Dublin with 20 aircraft and 74 routes.
In the last 12 months Ryanair has announced new bases at Bristol in south-west England, and at Dusseldorf Weeze and Bremen in Germany, as its steps up its attack on the German market. Mr Millar said that two or three more would be announced during the winter, as the airline aimed to reach at least 30 bases by 2012.
Ryanair believed there was still “plenty of headroom for growth in Europe,” he said.
With 42.5m passengers in the latest 12 months the airline had a market share of only 7 per cent of the European market of 600m short-haul passengers. The market was growing by around 5 per cent or 30m passengers a year.
Ryanair surprised the financial markets earlier this month with a warning that it was facing “softer” market conditions during the summer months, but its response has been to launch a series of deeply discounted fare promotions in order to drive up volumes and fill its rapidly growing fleet.
Even after doubling passenger numbers in five years the airline would still have a market share of less than 10 per cent, said Mr Millar.
He admitted to some concern about the growing environmental opposition to the rapid growth of the aviation industry, but he attributed the recent softening in demand in particular in the UK chiefly to economic factors including higher interest rates, the doubling of air passenger duty and rising airport charges.
“Hysteria about global warming can be affecting the market around the edges, he said. “There is a softness out there. Everybody is seeing it.”
He rejected suggestions that there was growing overcapacity in the European market. “Only Ryanair and EasyJet are really growing. The flag carriers are not doing much in short-haul,” he said.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007