London (dpa) – A quick weekend shopping trip from the European continent to London: up till a few years ago such a notion was almost exclusively reserved for the wealthy or eccentric.
Nowadays such short trips are nothing out of the ordinary for people of even modest means. Low-cost airlines have made it possible, among them Ryanair, easyJet, Go, buzz and Virgin Express.
With increasing success, such air companies are offering flights all across Europe at the lowest imaginable prices. Passengers however must make do without some of the old comforts. For example, anyone wanting to eat or drink on a low-cost flight must pay extra.
These newcomers to the European civil aviation industry all took their cue from the U.S. company Southwest Airlines. Back in 1971 co- founder Herb Kelleher started winning over customers with punctuality and above all with rock-bottom airfares.
More and more people began using the reliable low-cost airline, and within two years of Southwest Airlines’ founding, the Dallas, Texas-based company was operating in the black.
Besides the generally low prices, the airline makes sure that every last seat is filled with special offers, such as one flying coast-to-coast in the United States for just 99 dollars.
In addition, the airline has long since done away with reserved seating.
In this way, as Kelleher points out, an airplane can be more quickly loaded and unloaded, which puts the plane more quickly back into the air. This means more routes can be flown, more turnover, and more profits, which in part can be given back to the customer.
In Europe, it was the Irish company Ryanair which became the first to enter the low-cost, no-frills air market.
The term “no frills” make it clear to customers what they must expect from such cheap tickets – no newspapers or other amenities on board. If you want a sandwich, then bring your own.
By concentrating exclusively on profitable routes and saving costs from on-board services, Ryanair quickly began turning a profit. Today the Dublin-based company says it is growing by 25 per cent annually.
Customers are lured by near-dumping prices and a recent attraction called the “low-fare guarantee”. On its Internet site Ryanair promises Internet users that the prices offered on the Web are the lowest in the entire Internet.
If a customer, surfing the Web, happens to find a more favourable price at some other airline or travel office website, then Ryanair promises to pay the passenger double the price differential.
In Germany, Ryanair flies from Hamburg and Frankfurt to London – at prices which at times are as low as 29 marks (12 dollars), plus taxes. A closer look reveals that the airline does not actually fly directly from those cities, but rather from former air force bases.
One is near Luebeck, some 70 kilometres from Hamburg, the other is at Hahn, 130 kilometres from Frankfurt.
The case is different at “buzz”, which promises a ride to the main airports in the 15 European destinations that it offers. But the higher airport fees means that the tickets are not as cheap as those offered by Ryanair.
Like at Ryanair, buzz passengers must make do without much comfort. Drinks and snacks cost extra.
But people willing to pay more can still get a meal, with Indra Musiol of the buzz outlet in Berlin saying, “If you want a real meal, you can even determine what you want to eat while booking a ticket in the Internet.”
Those who want to hang out at a VIP lounge at the airport or get their luggage especially quickly must also pay extra. Buzz calls this the “pay as you go” approach, in which the passenger can decide what he or she wants according to what they are willing to pay for.
Virgin Express has the lowest profile among the low-cost airlines. Founded in 1996, the airline has been flying from Berlin-Schoenefeld airport to London, Rome and Brussels, with this last destination serving as a hub for nine further destinations.
Those who don’t mind plane transfers can get tickets at bargain- basement prices to such destinations as Nice or Madrid.
If the destination is Britain, then the no-frills fliers from Europe almost exclusively end up at London-Stansted airport north of the capital.
But this of course means additional costs for those travelling in to London, with a round-trip train fare costing some 30 dollars. However, if the train is booked online at the same time as the air ticket, then there’s a rebate of some 2.5 to 6.5 dollars.
