They want to squeeze more cash out of economy passengers, while attempting to ensure they don't "cannibalise" earnings from existing full-fare business travellers.
Figures released this week showed that in October BA's overall traffic fell by 25%, while its premium-fare business went down by 36%.
But Fitch said European budget carriers like Ryanair and easyJet "may suffer disproportionately" because they depended so heavily on a low-fare business model.
Revenue climbed 11 percent, to $1.28 billion, as the airline focused on growth in Boston and the Caribbean, helping attract both leisure and higher-fare business travelers.
For that price difference ($500!), I was willing to make some sacrifices — which is the key to Spirit's ultra-low-fare business model.
It blamed rising fuel costs, fewer high-fare business travelers and competition from discounters like WestJet Airlines Ltd. for the loss.
[World Business, Section W.] New Class of Business Travelers During the boom times, some hub airports chose to rely on the top-drawer market represented by full-fare business travelers.
But to ensure slick connections at peak hours for high-fare business travellers, aircraft have to hang around at hubs.Low-cost point-to-point carriers mostly provide flights between two places, without the swift connections available at a hub relying on low fares to attract enough business.
The aviation analyst John Strickland said: "On ultra-long-haul flights, aircraft have to burn fuel to carry fuel, so airlines have to be careful in their selection of such routes and be confident they will get sufficient higher-fare business customers".
On trans-Atlantic routes, where passenger traffic has been hit especially hard by the economic downturn, US Airways and Northwest Airlines are offering discounts of more than 80percentt off full-fare business-class tickets to a variety of European cities.
