TrogerWilliams From United States of America, joined Feb 2011, 19 posts, RR: 0 Posted (2 years 2 months 4 weeks 1 day 18 hours ago) and read 1817 times:
Pardon me if this has been been detailed in another thread; I didn't find a recent one in the search.
What, really, is the operational difference between a "low-budget" airline and another carrier? Many low-budget lines are plenty large, and internationally many are tiny and regional.
Is the operation cost made up in frills, like blankets and meals, or is there a significant difference in crew pay, upkeep, etc.?
I know that every individual airline is different, especially as you look abroad, but there must be some general commonalities.
pilotpip From United States of America, joined Sep 2003, 3082 posts, RR: 12 Reply 1, posted (2 years 2 months 4 weeks 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 1770 times:
The added amenities are a large part of it. Since you're profile shows you're from the US, let's use Southwest.
A large portion of their costs savings is in their route structure. They don't rely on the hub and spoke system that AA, UA, DL and others use. The aircraft fly into say, ORD, and then back out. Connections have to leave at similiar times to allow passengers to get from one flight to another. The result is banks of flights where everything is on the ground, then a lot of downtime while they fly to the outstations. Because of this the legacy carriers have to have a ton of gates, and enough personel to handle those flights. Southwest on the other hand does a lot of point to point and through flights.
This gives a lot of bennefits. Southwest can get away with fewer gates, and need fewer people while having just as many flights. Their employees are more productive throughout their shifts because they are working more flights rather than sitting in between banks. Southwest has some of the highest pay rates in the industry but they save a ton of money because of the productivity of their employees.
Another big point of savings is the fleet. Many airlines have realized the need to reduce the fleet types. Specialization has some benneifts but overall it's better to limit the number of types within a fleet. By doing so you need to stock fewer parts, you don't need as many ground service items like towbars, and you also save money in training because each type is a little different for ground crews (door operation, towbars, etc) and when you mistake the procedure for opening on the door of an airbus with that of a boeing things can break and that costs money too.
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