Flights to London for 15 euros, to Paris for 10, sometimes you can get a ticket so cheap that it is more expensive to get to the airport. So how do cheap airlines earn money? After all, a flight, even a short one, is a large cost that is unavoidable: fuel, crew payments, machine inspection, airport charges.
Numerous passengers on board
Low-cost airlines travel mainly on short distances and fly short hours. To save money on your ticket, you can resign from the amenities that traditional airlines offer. For example, one of these amenities is the possibility to straighten your legs while sitting. Most of the seats in the low-cost airlines do not offer this convenience, due to a large number of seats, it is fairly tight. Additionally, for some time now, seating on low-cost airlines has been allocated at random. If we want to sit together with family or friends, we have to pay extra for the ticket.
Surcharges
The basic ticket price, which might be tempting, can be increased by a lot of extra charges. Of course, these are not obligatory, but many travelers choose them to travel more comfortably. For example, priority boarding is one of them. This means that you can put your hand luggage in the glove box above the seats before someone else takes it. In many low-cost airlines, you can carry extra luggage on board in this way. However, it is better that your hand luggage does not turn out to be too heavy – there are additional charges for this.
If you’re tall and really need more legroom, you’ll probably buy a seat that will guarantee it. Finally, you’ve managed to buy a very cheap ticket and you can pay a little extra to make your journey a pleasant one. And most importantly, the charges for checked-in luggage. If you are going on a vacation, especially with children, it is difficult to pack into a small carry on.
Airports
Low-cost airline’ planes usually land and take off from airports located far from the final destination. This isn’t the general rule, as it is becoming increasingly common for low-cost airlines to have their own base at large major airports, but usually, after landing, there is an hour drive into the city. In addition, the planes do not stay at airports too long, unlike traditional carriers’ planes. This way, low-cost airlines save more money.
Employees of low-cost airline
Pilots and stewardesses working on low-cost airlines earn less than their colleagues on regular airlines, although they have the same requirements – so there is no concern that a low-cost airline pilot will be less competent than a person in the same position employed elsewhere.
Cheap airlines also save on the ground staff. Check-in at the airport costs several times more than the ticket itself, so passengers check-in online on the website of the carrier or intermediary.
However, even after paying extra for luggage or for ] a sandwich and water, the tickets of low-cost airlines are more financially viable than those of their competitors. So, what is the real income based on? First of all, based on the numerous amount of passengers. The flights are short, often the same route is serviced several times a day, so even if the earnings from one flight are lower, their sum guarantees the profitability of the business.
