Easyjet's arrival, in 1995, was the industry's turning point. Stelios borrowed £5 million from his father, a Greek shipping tycoon, deciding to concentrate on London largely as he couldn't speak French. Meanwhile, Michael O'Leary was soon to complete the transformation of Ryanair from a family-run, 'ethnic' service for Irish businessmen, into the most highly valued carrier worldwide. In the background, ailing giants British Airways and British Midland, watched with interest! Calder concentrates on the individual approach of the airline bosses. Stelios is relaxed, popular with his staff, customers and the media, O'Leary aggressive and direct, ever prepared to gamble on new markets. Bournemouth to the rural Rhineland? No-one even imagined it beforehand, but the route makes money! Barbara Cassani, charged by BA to take on the usurpers as head of Go, contrasts as the sensible older sister stopping the boys' scrapping turning too nasty.
Much of this is pantomime stuff, of course- the rivalry is genuine enough, but all three quickly appreciate the benefits that any publicity could offer the sector as a whole. So, Stelios and friends disrupting a Go route opening dressed in lurid orange boilersuits is matched by a Ryanair advertising hoarding outside Easyjet's offices. O'Leary sets himself up with the most to lose in the long-term, arguing that his own operation can close the others. Stelios and Cassani are more cautious, while other players- burnt-out like Debonair and KLM, or still consolidating as Buzz and bmibaby- see the industry still some way from maturity. Yet, it has forced changes on its larger rivals. Perhaps not at Heathrow, universally acknowledged as their crucial site. Calder meets the clearly over-staffed ticket sellers, half-heartedly trying to sell overpriced transfers to earlier or later flights. When these penalties cost more than the whole journey on a competitor, it's easy to understand why SAS has abandoned the previously profitable route from Stansted to Copenhagen.
And therein lies at least a partial irony. The cheap airlines can't remain profitable with loss-leading gimmicks, or by manipulating the small print. They can't even ensure a high average spend per head by charging huge premiums on the day- business travellers won't always pay £ 250 to arrive at a backwater airport miles away from Glasgow, Brussels or Stockholm. So, cynical economics apply: passengers are fleeced for extras that, to my mind are pretty 'frilly'. Arrive two minutes late for check-in? Doesn't matter the flight's delayed for six hours, you can't board without buying another flight. A complimentary cup of tea- that'll be £2.50, etc. These cheese-paring savings don't ring true as marginal profits, more as a demonstration of street-wise toughness. All three unfrilly giants regularly run flights with 25% or more seats empty, so are they really different in that respect from Olympic, regularly panned by Calder as an example of flag-carrying dinosaurs? A neat touch is the Go executive boasting that their call-centre must be overstaffed: only 17% of calls go unanswered...
As brief research, I've just costed a long weekend journey from London to a major UK destination most accessible by air. Booking only a week in advance, Go wins with a saving of £ 10 on Easyjet and an impressive £ 51 over British Midland. Ryanair serves another regional airport 50 miles away, but is still £ 17 cheaper than BMI. So, on the face of it the cheapies have won- I quickly gave up trying to make any sense of British Airways' arcane website. But O'Leary's mantra keeps haunting me. You may be a bus service, but the coach to Stansted doesn't demand payment months ahead. And doesn't have to worry about passengers flitting elsewhere if a few services are delayed by roadworks on the M25. Even the seat-of-the-pants entrepreneurial spirit has a downside. Nervous passengers will continue to associate it with compromises on safety, and as the author suggests it would be ironic indeed if the new carriers ultimately failed for perceived weakness, in a area where their standards have often put both competitors and authorities on the defensive.
