Consolidation among European legacy airlines will bring new market opportunities for LCCs, Mike Rutter said.
The chief commercial officer for Flybe, the largest regional carrier in Europe, said he saw consolidation not as a threat but as a ”land of opportunity.”
He told the World Low Cost Airlines Congress at the QEII Conference Centre in London today (September 23) that it made LCCS realise that legacy carriers cannot serve the regional market.
”I see consolidation as an opportunity,” he said.
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Mike Rutter, Flybe's chief commercial officer
Daniel Skjeldam, chief commercial officer for Norwegian Air Shuttle, said there were rumours that rival Scandinavian carrier SAS might be taken over.
If that happened, it might provide his carrier with more scope. ”There will be quite a lot of opportunity for us as our rivals have twice the costs that we do.
”I believe there will be route opportunities and chances to feed hubs,” he said.
Earlier Mr Rutter outlined five key points which he said has led to the profits which Flybe announced earlier this month.
They are the need to be leaders in a market, about having a wide customer base, a carefully defined network, a controlled cost base and having a compact with the customers.
He said his airline had looked for a strong business traveller base but these were not just corporate customers but also people from the SME market.
Thomas Winklemann, ceo of Germanwings, said the customer did not care if he was flying with a legacy carrier, an LCC or on a charter.
”He wants to travel safely and pay the least possible fare for his trip,” he said.
Travellers wanted quality and while free seating might work in some countries in Germany it was ”baloney” and ”the quality of the product went down and you did not get the high yield customer”.
Mr Winklemann said there was not at the moment enough competition between LCCs or between airports and air traffic control had to be reformed.
Visit www.Flybe.com, www.norwegian.no and www.germanwings.com.
Stanley Slaughter
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