Mixed times for the industry, writes Calder
UK: Travel editor highlights job threats, cheap fares and unprecedented safety
These are difficult days for airline personnel, writes Simon Calder in today’s edition of The Independent – but airline travel is safer than ever and there have never been so many cheap fares around.
Calder’s two-page analysis of the current situation in the travel industry centres on the pressures created by 11 September, the Bali bombings, and the threat of a new war on Iraq.
And while traditional airlines are clearly feeling the pinch (British Airways openly admits “an unprecedented reduction in revenue because of the continued threat of war, increasing competitive pressures and the uncertain economic environment”), others are enjoying things, with Ryanair claiming that business has never been better.
Boss Michael O’Leary reports that passengers “stopped travelling with very high-fare airlines but they have continued to travel very strongly with low-fare airlines”. Ryanair has more good news for passengers; it claims it will continue to lower its fares even if war breaks out and Calder states that the carrier has cash reserves of £1 billion, while BA has twice that amount. So, Calder writes, “there has never been a better time to find a cheap flight”.
And Jamie Bowden, an adviser on crisis management who used to work for BA, tells the newspaper: “Air travel has never been safer than it is now. BA’s commitment to safety and security borders on the obsessive – and that can only be a good thing.” To read the full article visit http://travel.independent.co.uk/news_and_advice/story.jsp?story=379545
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