Budget airlines: Low cost, high hopes
13 September 2012
The bargain-basement carriers are having to battle business travellers’ perceptions of inflexibility and inaccessibility. But the reality can be very different, and buyers should do more to exploit the cost savings on offer
It gets harder and harder for companies to avoid using low-cost carriers (LCCs). The number of weekly international flights they operated in the UK rose 75 per cent in the two years after 9/11, according to schedule publisher OAG. Figures for June 2004 show they had grown another 14 per cent over the preceding 12 months.
LCCs nearly always offer the cheapest...