As a frequent traveller from Belfast International, I’ve been following the arrival of Ryanair at Belfast City for some time now. Being honest, I’ve noticed little change in load factors with easyJet from Belfast International on those routes on which they directly compete with Ryanair – albeit, it could be perhaps too early to tell, given that many bookings could have been made before Ryanair landed at Belfast City.
However, I have heard friends and colleagues commenting that when I am booking a flight, I should check out Ryanair, as they are allegedly much cheaper. So I did just that – comparing 36 flights across 3 routes between December 2007 and February 2008 and was somewhat surprised by the results.
On only 22% of sectors was Ryanair cheaper, with easyJet cheaper on the remaining 78%. On average, it cost 28% more to fly with Ryanair per sector, than it did with easyJet. The biggest saving flying with Ryanair over easyJet was £17.80, whereas the biggest saving flying with easyJet over Ryanair was £68.68.
So when Mr. O’Leary landed at BHD promising that Northern Ireland passengers will save time and money with Ryanair… he was plainly telling porkies. Call me strange, but if I’m travelling to Glasgow from Northern Ireland… I don’t really see the point in paying more to travel via Prestwick.
Mind you, I have previously noticed that when flying from DUB to mainland Europe, Aer Lingus is frequently cheaper than Ryanair and often has better timings too.
The comparable costings were for similarly times flights on same dates across comparable routes e.g. BHD-PIK v BFS – GLA and included fares, taxes and charges, but did not include credit card processing charges, checked luggage, airport check in etc., as given each carrier operates different policies and procedures I found these nigh impossible to compare and contrast.
Regards
John
By: PMN - 20th December 2007 at 11:43
I’m sure Mr O’Leary will reduce the prices if he realises his nice new 738’s aren’t being filled!
For me personally I’d much rather fly with Easyjet anyway. I’ve probably only flown with them 10 or so times, but every flight has been superb with the attitudes of the crew being right up there with KLM, Lufthansa or any of my other favourite non-budget airlines (and I’m sure A Spalding will agree with me on this!)
Be interesting to see what develops.
A part of the no-frills airline’s advertising and rhetoric armoury is attempting to portray, to the casual travelling public, that they the no-frills sector are cheaper than the full service airline competition. Clearly this is not always the case – I’d go as far as to say often it is not the case, particularly when all the added charges the no-frills sector can impose are taken into consideration – that’s why I don’t call them “low-fare” carriers, by the way. The casual traveller, without either the time or wherewithall to research, is suckered by the no-frill’s sectors messaging, and sometimes that costs them money or convenience. I think that the primary message must be “buyer beware”, and certainly don’t believe all of the hype coming out of certain airline offices in Dublin and Luton (amongst others).
Andy
Absolutely, and the most stunning example of this in my eyes are Jet2. Yes, you can get moderately low fares if you book far enough in advance, but exactly how they can be classed as a ‘budget’ airline I’m not entirely sure.
Ahh well… Sometimes convenience is the most important criteria when booking flights, and in this capacity (to me at least), Jet2 do have their place. (I speak of day trips to Amsterdam, of course!)
Paul
By: Skymonster - 20th December 2007 at 11:40
A part of the no-frills airline’s advertising and rhetoric armoury is attempting to portray, to the casual travelling public, that they the no-frills sector are cheaper than the full service airline competition. Clearly this is not always the case – I’d go as far as to say often it is not the case, particularly when all the added charges the no-frills sector can impose are taken into consideration – that’s why I don’t call them “low-fare” carriers, by the way. The casual traveller, without either the time or wherewithall to research, is suckered by the no-frill’s sectors messaging, and sometimes that costs them money or convenience. I think that the primary message must be “buyer beware”, and certainly don’t believe all of the hype coming out of certain airline offices in Dublin and Luton (amongst others).
Andy
By: A Spalding - 20th December 2007 at 11:36
John
Many thanks for sharing your findings, although i have nothing to comment on the matter, it was an enjoyable read.
Thank you for taking the time to share the information.
Adam
By: keltic - 19th December 2007 at 17:57
Probably in many airports, not in Spain, which until now we had to “eat” Iberia high fares. In any circunstance, I have found cheaper fares throughout the segments I had to fly.
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December 19, 2007 at 4:11 pm