Flying is becoming more and more expensive. Nevertheless, low-cost airlines such as Easyjet or Ryanair manage to offer flights with competitive prices starting at 10 euros. We explain how such cheap flights come about and why this could soon come to an abrupt end.
For 12.99 euros from Nuremberg to London. The Irish airline Ryanair recently tried to woo customers with this tempting offer. The airline’s offers have lured almost one in three Germans and turned them into customers of low-cost providers. But how can the flights be so cheap?
The most well-known budget airline is Ryanair and its sales strategy is simple: always be cheaper than everyone else. A documentary by “Galileo” takes a closer look at the airline. The airline saves money in detail and consistently. In the past, a large part of its income came from additional payments, extra baggage allowances and as many paid additional services as possible. But now guests are conditioned to this and know where the price traps are lurking. Thanks to the smooth check-in processes, which are largely thanks to the app, the airline can save a lot on on-site staff.
If you take a closer look at the planes themselves, you will notice that the low-cost airline’s aircraft models all look the same. There is also a major cost-cutting measure behind this. The more you order, the more discount the aircraft manufacturer gives – and if all models are the same, mechanics only have to be familiar with one model for maintenance or repairs. Ryanair ordered a record number of 180 of the Boeing 737 800 model at once, probably making a favorable deal compared to the competition. The model has a simple interior and, on average, newer turbines, which also use less kerosene, which also saves money.
One of Ryanair’s most important savings tricks is to keep the aircraft at the airport as short as possible, which is why the airline does not offer its own connecting flights. Because: the longer the stay, the more expensive the fee. The average time between two flights is just 25 minutes.
To make this work, the machine has a staircase at the front that extends and another at the back. This means that passengers get out at the back and front at the same time and then get back on again – this saves time. The cleaning in between is carried out by flight staff trained in time efficiency. To make this as little work as possible, the seats have pockets so that as little rubbish as possible is left on the plane.
But these are not the only cost-cutting measures that directly affect Ryanair staff: crew and pilots have to pay their own insurance and those who are absent do not receive any money. In an interview with “Spiegel”, a flight attendant reported poor working conditions and pay. According to the Ver.di union, most flight attendants are between 18 and 30 years old and come from economically stricken crisis countries in southern or eastern Europe.
Despite the extremely effective savings methods that made cheap flights possible in the past, flight prices are rising again. After the pandemic and the subsequent increased demand, high inflation and energy costs, airfares have increased enormously. According to a comparison by HolidayCheck, international flights were around 25 percent more expensive in the first half of the year compared to the previous year, and flights within Europe were even up around 32 percent.
In the fall, prices dropped again and were once again incredibly cheap. This lasted until recently, but since May passengers have been paying more for airlines through the so-called aviation tax.
Ryanair in particular will have difficulty continuing to offer low prices in Germany. In an interview with the “Frankfurter Rundschau”, Eddie Wilson, one of the managing directors of Ryanair, criticized German airports: They are simply too expensive. Wilson says during the pandemic the government has not helped regional airports but has kept major airports operating.
This is particularly bad because Ryanair often prefers smaller airports with cheaper stay prices. At the same time, the government had to save Lufthansa. The consequence: Lufthansa shut down more than 100 aircraft and concentrated its capacities on Frankfurt and Munich. Airports in Stuttgart, Düsseldorf or Hamburg have not yet recovered from the consequences of the pandemic. There would be fewer airlines and fewer planes there, and therefore fewer seats. Therefore prices would rise.
Von Lara Feser
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The original of this article “Ryanair lures passengers with cheap flights – documentary reveals what’s behind it” comes from nordbayern.
