Originally Posted by
stratofactor
Legacy airlines form all countries are going to see a decline in international flying. You can’t compete with the Middle Eastern carriers. Gas in Saudi Arabia is 45 cents a gallon, jet fuel is about the same.
Gas may be, but Jet-A definitely isn't.... I actually paid less in LSGG than OERK if you can believe that.
They pay the pilots pretty good but everybody else is paid crap. The rampers are a from Pakistan or Bangladesh and get 500 dollars a month at best. Cabin crew get 1500 a month at best. No pensions, no Unions, the list goes on and on. There is no way to compete with these carriers and make money.
I think it has a lot more to do with geography than anything else. Draw 8 hour flight time circles from Europe, Asia and Africa and note where these circles all intersect. Look at the major population centers, then look at the total population, then look at the players.... EK, EY, QR, TK.
As for the pay, US carriers are far more competitive due to low pilot costs. We can compete transatlantic to Europe and all and maybe South America... but the onboard amenities and customer service need to vastly improve.
As soon as the Middle East airlines start to code share with JetBlue, Spirit, Virgin (Australia), Ryan Air (Europe), etc. these LCC’s will supply plenty of passengers for the international flying. LCC’s doing domestic, Middle East Airlines doing long haul. Going to be interesting times ahead.
Virgin Australia already does code-share with EY. As for other LCC's, I don't think any of the premium Middle East airlines want anything to do with the likes of Ryanair or Spirit as they're too.... low-budget and offer absolutely no amenities. Y class on say QR (excellent service and amenities) connecting with Spirit where you get charged for water?! I doubt QR would want to put their code on an airline that does that.