European Air travel – Low cost airlines grow, mainline airlines decline.  More low cost airlines at mainline airports, as airports struggle with the credit crunch.

Airport growth figures for the last quarter of 2008 are now pretty much all released.  The results are clear – major hub airports, that rely on the mainline airline are suffering.  The smaller airport driven by the low cost airlines are holding up well.  There are however exceptions, the main risk with these airports is the fact that they are often only served by one or two airlines, the result is that the smaller airports can be held somewhat to ransom by the low cost airlines, as has been witnessed recently by Ryan air.

The latest figures from the French Airports association reveal that the big growth in the last year has been driven by inter regional and Low Cost Carriers (LCC).  EasyJet has long had a strong presence in France, but what people don’t always know is that the most of easyJet’s growth in 2008 has been in or around the French market.  The Paris Milan route is now easyJets busiest route, and with bases in Lyon and Paris (both Charles de Gaulle and Orly).  Ryan air has now also started to launch French domesic routes, it will be interesting to see if this will finally reintroduce the French domestic routes lost since the demise of Air Inter and TAT.

The other effect of the current downturn is the effect on airports and the change in approach of mainline airports to the low cost airlines, in an attempt to see themselves through the tough times.  The most successful at this seems to be Manchester airport with both Ryan air and easyJet moving routes from Liverpool to the bigger airport.  Whether this will lead to passengers demanding different services, or what services will be offered to airlines when the current crisis in the market returns we will have to wait and see.

 As always you can drop me a line at andrew@andrics.com