Express Business Traveller - issue dtd. September 2004

Footloose and Frills - Free

It was just over a year ago, when I was flying within Europe and got the first taste of what was in store for air travellers in the future. I was on board one of Europe’s major carriers but to my surprise thesr was no in-flight service at all. Instead, the stewardess went around selling food and drink off the serving trolley. On enquiry, I was told that the airline follows a ‘no service’ policy on intra-Europe flights of under two hours (or maybe three). What was surprising to me was that this was a ‘full service’ carrier, but with the way things are moving today, I may not have been so surprised at present. The rate of growth of ‘no frills - airlines’ in Europe and the US has been phenomenal and if one evaluates the response to Air Deccan in India and the slew of others who are lining up to launch ‘no frills airlines’, this phenomenon seems to be here to stay. International airlines like Air Arabia, a low cost carrier, are now looking at opening routes to India. While I am sure that it will be a little while before it gets to the stage of Ryan Air and Easy jet in the west, low-cost flying in India is catching on very fast. The cover story in this issue of feBusiness Traveller deals with the pros and cons of ‘no frills airlines’ in India and the radical change that awaits the travellers of the future. I think what one must understand the clientele of a ‘low cost’ airline and a regular airline are very different and there is scope for both of them to exist. Full service airlines will continue to exist for high profile business travellers, while ‘no frills airlines’ will service more leisure and low end business traffic. It is a given that many airlines that launch, will shut down and only the resilient will survive but what is certain is that the traveller will laugh all the way to the airport and back...

Sheldon Santwan
Editor, feBusiness Traveller
Sheldon can be reached at editor@businesstravellerindia.com