The low cost, short haul model could easily migrate into the long haul market, Tim Clark, president of Emirates Airlines told a seminar at the World Travel Market in London.
Speaking at the Future of Air Travel: Transformation conference, Mr Clark said the low cost carriers had revolutionised the industry. “They are what customers want and they have a bearing on the long haul market,” he said.
“The legacy airlines need to consider the likely migration of the low cost model into the long haul market. And why not?" Mr Clark said.
He said the aviation world was changing with the skies likely to be increasingly liberalised and an end to the subsidies of national carriers. Larger aircraft, like the A380s were also arriving and the internet with its booking capability had stripped out a large element of distribution costs.
“Imagine a Super Jumbo which can carry many hundreds of passengers where the passengers buy online, bring their own food and have just one piece of luggage.
“There would be inflight videos and inflight gambling on a trip from Stansted to Macau and you could charge $400 for a round trip with tax. You would break even on an 80% customer load,” he said.
“What would happen if Ryanair or easyJet bought such a jet? We are looking at a new age of travel. Freddie Laker tried it in the 1970s but was stopped by the other airlines. His mistake was that he was 30 years ahead of his time,” Mr Clark said.
He saw a new breed of super hubs, like Hong Kong, Dubai, Paris, Amsterdam and Munich which could all handle a 100m plus passengers a year with seamless transfers under tight time lines, would growing up and this would re-define global strategy for air travel.