What You Must Know About Budget Airlines

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What You Must Know About Budget Airlines

Budget airlines are on every continent, but did you know that these airlines made their debut over in Europe? There are still more budget airlines in that part of the world over anywhere else. Their costs are significantly cheaper than regular airlines in Europe, which is quite different than the small savings you will see in the US or on other continents.

People boarding to Ryanair plane on Lech Walesa Airport in Gdansk. Ryanair operates over 300 aircraft and is the biggest low-cost airline company in Europe.
People boarding to Ryanair plane on Lech Walesa Airport in Gdansk. Ryanair operates over 300 aircraft and is the biggest low-cost airline company in Europe.

Most budget airlines place bulk orders when they order new airplanes, because that allows them to save a lot of money since they are getting such a steep discount. While these airlines could purchase older planes, they see a bigger savings with the new ones, due to the fuel efficiency and fewer necessary repairs.

Low cost carrier, Air Asia, taking off.
Low cost carrier, Air Asia, taking off.

All the employees of these budget airlines only need to go through training for the one type of aircraft the company uses. Instead of ordering five of one type of plane, ten of another, and so forth, the company simply orders one kind and uses it for every flight they have. This saves a bunch of time and money.

The flight attendants perform multiple tasks including cleaning the plane and taking tickets at the gate. This means fewer employees are needed to get every job completed.

When you take a budget airline flight, you probably notice that they normally do not fly into the larger airports in Europe. This is due to the higher costs of flying into those areas, so they choose to fly into the cheaper airports that are a little further from your destination. They will fly to regular airports on occasion, but it will be at the least popular times.

All budget airlines have very little downtime in between flights, so they are making more money every day. Time in the air is more profitable than time spent on the ground. Connections are also not usually available with budget airlines, because they do not have the employees to transfer the bags.

EasyJet Airbus A320 airplanes at Berlin Tegel Airport (TXL) in Germany. Airbus is a European aircraft manufacturer based in Toulouse, France.
EasyJet Airbus A320 airplanes at Berlin Tegel Airport (TXL) in Germany. Airbus is a European aircraft manufacturer based in Toulouse, France.

Many regular airlines have tried to jump on the budget airline bandwagon but have failed. They simply do not have the number of planes required, or the number of destinations, to make a company like this work.

Various low-budget airline aircraft parked at the terminal of Eindhoven-Airport.
Various low-budget airline aircraft parked at the terminal of Eindhoven-Airport.

Over in Europe, Ryanair and EasyJet have smashed the competition with their budget airline model, making it quite difficult for anyone else to break through in that part of the world. Only time will tell if the budget airlines within the US, mainly Allegiant and Frontier, will be as successful one day or if they will fall prey to the budget airline curse.

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airlines travel-tips budget-airlines cheap-travels general-knowledge flying

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