If you're complaining about high fares on airlines that include food and drink and prefer so-called "low cost" airlines, don't complain. Because if you use your common sense, all the facilities such as food, drink, in flight entertainment etc. you get on board is already paid for in your expensive ticket.
These so-called "low cost" airlines charge more or less the same amount for pillows, blankets, entertainment and beverages, the only difference being that you have to customly order them instead of actually paying for everything in advance.
For me, flying on an airline for anything more than an hour with having to customly pay for facilities is unthinkable. Just about every airline I've flown on has in-flight facilities which is already paid for in the ticket fare.
And it's not like passengers don't notice the difference between these "low cost" airlines and regular airlines. It's just that they're willing to suffer a few hours with discomfort to reach their destination instead of paying more money.
This video parody shows what people think of "low cost" airlines:
My alternate:
If you want your airline to be known as a "low cost" airline, then it's time to prove it as such.
This means all the basic facilities should be available on board but their costs should be low. Instead of having an expensive meal paid for in the passenger's ticket fare, I would include a cheap snack that you commonly find in snack stores such as wrapped sandwiches, burgers etc.
Even a packet of peanuts would do. Better to keep everything low cost instead of customly charging passengers for the most expensive things and hold on to the recognition of a "low cost" airline.
And though not entirely necessarily but strongly advisable, I would operate more fuel efficient planes such as next generation 737 series with winglets that save about 7% of the total fuel and if I'm not mistaken they also save each passenger 7% fuel costs when they pay their ticket/baggage fare.
Or if you're a bigger airline with further routes and larger passenger capacity, then I'd recommend the upcoming Boeing 747-8, the Boeing 777-200LR/300ER and/or the 767-400ER.
Anything an airline does to make the fares cheap while providing the basic facilities brings it closer to the actual definition of a low cost airline.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Partnering PIA with Pakistan's private airlines.
The domestic aviation industry in Pakistan is in a weak position, thanks to the Pakistani governments "protective" policies of PIA, only crippling the growth of the other airlines; hence the rest of the Pakistani aviation industry.
The problem is that PIA and it's owner the Pakistani Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) fear the growing competition only contributing to PIA's losses. PIA suffers grossly from competition both internationally and domestically.
On the international front, the Pakistani CAA has been trying to limit the Gulf airliners by denying certain operations such as refusing Emirates a special terminal to accommodate their Airbus 380s.
There have also been plans to impose taxations on passengers who fly to Europe and North America from Pakistan by transiting through the Gulf, though I'm not sure if it was ever imposed.
Recently PIA planned on code sharing some of their European and North American routes with Turkish Airlines (THY). This resulted in a strike by PIA employees who claimed that these were profitable routes being given over to THY.
I think the best solution to PIA competition is to partner PIA with Pakistan's domestic airlines instead of foreign airlines. For example, if PIA planes are caught in an international flight and are scheduled to be used domestically or the international flight is entering Pakistan to fly between two domestic routes but cannot make it in time, the route can be operated by a domestic airline on PIA's behalf.
Even on international routes such as Manchester if PIA wants to cut down flights to save operating costs, the CAA should let Airblue do the route on PIA's behalf so both airlines can profit.
Even domestically since PIA has a limited number of 737-300s and uses Airbus 310s, it could perhaps divert these Airbus 310s abroad and allow Airblue, Shaheen Air or some other airline to do the domestic route on PIA's behalf.
Perhaps these specific ideas are not profitable, but some sort of partnership between PIA and Pakistan's private airlines might actually help reduce international competition and boost the Pakistani aviation industry. Such an idea definitely deserves to be explored in a bid to grow the Pakistani aviation market.
The problem is that PIA and it's owner the Pakistani Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) fear the growing competition only contributing to PIA's losses. PIA suffers grossly from competition both internationally and domestically.
On the international front, the Pakistani CAA has been trying to limit the Gulf airliners by denying certain operations such as refusing Emirates a special terminal to accommodate their Airbus 380s.
There have also been plans to impose taxations on passengers who fly to Europe and North America from Pakistan by transiting through the Gulf, though I'm not sure if it was ever imposed.
Recently PIA planned on code sharing some of their European and North American routes with Turkish Airlines (THY). This resulted in a strike by PIA employees who claimed that these were profitable routes being given over to THY.
I think the best solution to PIA competition is to partner PIA with Pakistan's domestic airlines instead of foreign airlines. For example, if PIA planes are caught in an international flight and are scheduled to be used domestically or the international flight is entering Pakistan to fly between two domestic routes but cannot make it in time, the route can be operated by a domestic airline on PIA's behalf.
Even on international routes such as Manchester if PIA wants to cut down flights to save operating costs, the CAA should let Airblue do the route on PIA's behalf so both airlines can profit.
Even domestically since PIA has a limited number of 737-300s and uses Airbus 310s, it could perhaps divert these Airbus 310s abroad and allow Airblue, Shaheen Air or some other airline to do the domestic route on PIA's behalf.
Perhaps these specific ideas are not profitable, but some sort of partnership between PIA and Pakistan's private airlines might actually help reduce international competition and boost the Pakistani aviation industry. Such an idea definitely deserves to be explored in a bid to grow the Pakistani aviation market.
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