4 ms·

I'm not sure this argument holds up. Ryanair in the EU flys so many point to point flights from little airports to other little airports. Why does the point t

I'm not sure this argument holds up. Ryanair in the EU flys so many point to point flights from little airports to other little airports. Why does the point to point model work so well within the EU but not in the US? Ryanair has actually said that they don't really do market research for routes but rely on the fact that opening up the route increases demand.

niftich 10y ago
Europe tends to have public transport and long-distance car hire services that make an outlying airport capable of being used to visit a "nearby" much larger city. In the US, outlying airports are those of third- and fourth-tier cities that don't generate a lot of traffic on their own, and are located distant from points of interest. In the US, a tourist flying to such a place has little options besides renting a personal car. In the past, I've hypothesized [1] that the sole reason low-cost airlines like RyanAir can even fly to such outlying European airports is because there's significant competition among lesser airports desperate for business and the (supposed) positive knock-on effects that will result. This encourages them to provide subsidies, discounts, or other perks to airlines, because losing commercial air service would be a more severe economic blow. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13438412 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13438412
- lhopki01 10y ago
  But if you're travelling via the hub and spoke model you still need to rent at the other end. The US is not adverse to subsidising and providing large tax discounts to companies, if anything this is much more common in the US than the EU because of state aid rules in the EU. Why wouldn't US regional airports also try and attract more airlines? I've done some research and apparently LCCs now make up 30% of travel in the US. It looks like the US is catching up to the EU now.

niftich 10y ago

Europe tends to have public transport and long-distance car hire services that make an outlying airport capable of being used to visit a "nearby" much larger city. In the US, outlying airports are those of third- and fourth-tier cities that don't generate a lot of traffic on their own, and are located distant from points of interest. In the US, a tourist flying to such a place has little options besides renting a personal car. In the past, I've hypothesized [1] that the sole reason low-cost airlines like RyanAir can even fly to such outlying European airports is because there's significant competition among lesser airports desperate for business and the (supposed) positive knock-on effects that will result. This encourages them to provide subsidies, discounts, or other perks to airlines, because losing commercial air service would be a more severe economic blow. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13438412 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13438412

lhopki01 10y ago
But if you're travelling via the hub and spoke model you still need to rent at the other end. The US is not adverse to subsidising and providing large tax discounts to companies, if anything this is much more common in the US than the EU because of state aid rules in the EU. Why wouldn't US regional airports also try and attract more airlines? I've done some research and apparently LCCs now make up 30% of travel in the US. It looks like the US is catching up to the EU now.