Time for a rethink about all costs and incomes, also taxes, fees and slots
The Ryanair costbase have in the later years been steadily creeping upwards as they have added frills and abandoned smaller airports for more mainstream ones only sometimes closer to city centers. Yes they have charged extra for the extras but it have let an airline like Wizz creep up under its radar and end up with a lower costs per passenger, according to Ryanair's own presentations.
Is a perceived segment of potential customers, the business traveller, worth going after so much you'd give up the single most important competitive advantage you have had within the industry for years. The one that let you gain market share and dominance by your most important marketing tool, lower prices than everybody else.
Wizz abandoned Frankfurt when the initial discounted deal on airport fees ran out. Ryanair have moved their flights from nearby Hahn and have stayed put even when costs went up. Maybe the need for deeply discounted prices to entice people back into the air will require some rethink on this policy. It could easily be done by instigating new flights with cheaper ticket prices from sample Hahn and leave some flights at Frankfurt for the more price insnsitive business market. Alternatively just threaten it and se if Frankfurt coughs up some new discount schemes for CoVid19.
Some countries have completely suspended their fee charging at publicly owned airports for the duration. Even some privately owned major airports might be eager to do some discounting to get some traffic going. I am sure they will soon come up with a solution to get their airport sales going if only there where passengers. And there is always the car parks when we are disecouraged from using public transport.
Maybe the whole going after the once valuable slots full service airlines in trouble have been, or soon will be, forced to abandon at major airports, is a trap Low Fares airlines should be carefull about to ensure they still can match Low Fares with Low Costs.
These slots could be better catches for financial companies that can afford to sit on them for a while until traffic, demand and value returns. By part financing an existing airline that can use them while they are waiting of course, as airport slot rules demand.
Is a perceived segment of potential customers, the business traveller, worth going after so much you'd give up the single most important competitive advantage you have had within the industry for years. The one that let you gain market share and dominance by your most important marketing tool, lower prices than everybody else.
Wizz abandoned Frankfurt when the initial discounted deal on airport fees ran out. Ryanair have moved their flights from nearby Hahn and have stayed put even when costs went up. Maybe the need for deeply discounted prices to entice people back into the air will require some rethink on this policy. It could easily be done by instigating new flights with cheaper ticket prices from sample Hahn and leave some flights at Frankfurt for the more price insnsitive business market. Alternatively just threaten it and se if Frankfurt coughs up some new discount schemes for CoVid19.
Some countries have completely suspended their fee charging at publicly owned airports for the duration. Even some privately owned major airports might be eager to do some discounting to get some traffic going. I am sure they will soon come up with a solution to get their airport sales going if only there where passengers. And there is always the car parks when we are disecouraged from using public transport.
Maybe the whole going after the once valuable slots full service airlines in trouble have been, or soon will be, forced to abandon at major airports, is a trap Low Fares airlines should be carefull about to ensure they still can match Low Fares with Low Costs.
These slots could be better catches for financial companies that can afford to sit on them for a while until traffic, demand and value returns. By part financing an existing airline that can use them while they are waiting of course, as airport slot rules demand.
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