Originally Posted by
sulkair
The glut of ULCC passengers is finite, yes, but so are the stars in the heavens. The surface of this market has barely been scratched. I know it's borderline cliche at this point, but are we to believe the much larger and more mature ULCC market in Europe is just an anomaly? I doubt it. Yes, NK & F9 will grow to that size and larger because the demand will certainly drive it. You don't believe me? One word: Walmart!
Is the travel experience dubious? (I'm assuming by using that term you mean unreliable) ...Perhaps right now maybe a little. But once this model grows out of it's infancy it will be affordable AND reliable, despite being somewhat unpleasant. Kind of like a city bus; no fun for sure, but it does the trick and nothing beats the price. If your station in life won't permit other modes of transport, you're on that sucker!
I disagree at least a bit. I don't think ULCCs will get as large a market share in the US as they have in Europe. The reason is we have Southwest already eating up a huge part of the domestic, non legacy market. Europe has the big international legacies, and the ULCCs. They don't have an equivalent to SW.
I think the ULCCs will grow a lot, but the aggressive growth plans of both frontier and spirit combined is probably more than can really materialize