With numerous short-haul
budget airlines around the world, the major airliners in Europe are starting to
feel the effects of fare competition. The three biggest airlines in Europe,
KLM, British Airways and Lufthansa are all changing their strategy to deal with
this increased competition. This strategy change is seen in either acquisitions
or use of already owned budget airlines.
United States’ airlines have already almost completely eliminated flight
in Europe that does not involve one of their hubs. The costs are way to high
for the low revenue associated with short-haul non-hub destination flights in
Europe.
With the new move towards the use of budget airliners
that the major European airlines have acquired, a number of issues have
occurred. Many of the major airliner pilots have become irate over the decrease
in wages for flying for the short-haul budget companies. The disparity in wages
between the short-haul and long haul pilots is large. In fact three pilot
strikes have occurred against Lufthansa in the last week. Air France is preparing itself for a weeklong
pilot strike that is likely to start this week. This is a major issue for
travelers as there is going to be a lack of pilots in Europe causing delays and
cancellations, which will disrupt business within the continent. Air France has urged customers to reschedule
their trips due to the instability in their labor forces.
Source: http://www.businessweek.com/printer/articles/225164-europe-s-big-airlines-no-longer-want-to-fly-in-europe
I feel this is a concern for most of the regular airline travelers. Increased competition makes the airlines offer more value to their in-flight services if they want to keep their prices constant. However, now-a-days different smaller companies have been providing similar in-flight services to the customers from 'outside' the airlines. For instance, people can now buy whatever meal they prefer from major airport lounge restaurants and carry those with them to the airline. Those meal boxes are designed in such a way that they fit well underneath the seats. Travelers, as a result, have more options to get what they want inside the flight, and not just depend on the airline's food options. The airline companies have continued to suffer as a result for which they have to decrease their fares in the market. Along with other factors including demand for higher wages by the airline crews, this is not possible for them to do it always in case of shorter flights for which, I feel, most of the European airlines have planned to stop their services to other places in Europe.
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