MAXjet Airways claims to offer a revolutionary 'luxury low fare' service, with business class tickets up to 75percentnt lower than other airlines, and returns from £1,200.
With low costs and ample slots at its base in Slovakia, which forfeited its national airline after splitting from the Czech Republic in 1993, it markets Bratislava as a secondary airport for nearby Vienna, allowing it to tap into demand for low-fare services from wealthier Austrians.
Lo and John D. Selvaggioio, president of Song, the low-fare service of Delta Air Lines, wrestles with the hoses connecting a plane to a sewage truck.
He warned that traditional airlines will be in danger of cannibalizing their business if they offer low-fare service on routes already served by their mainline operations.
Southwest, which has been inching toward serving New York City for several years, plans to start low-fare service to Chicago Midway Airport and Baltimore-Washington International Airport on June 28, company officials said on Monday.
Another hopeful, People Express, wants to revive a defunct brand known for its low-fare service to provide direct service between Newport News, Va., and places like Providence, R.I., and Pittsburgh on the East Coast, and Orlando in Florida.
Later, he told reporters on a flight from Dublin to Germany that he had been approached by a number of US airports keen on starting a long-haul, low-fare service.
The severity of United's revenue problems stems partly from its heavy reliance on the bubble spending of technology companies, as well as its unusual exposure to Southwest's low-fare service.
"The sense I got," said Mr. Baldassano, "was 'Keep it local.' " That became problematic in March 1999 when Southwest Airlines announced the that it would begin low-fare service from MacArthur to Chicago, Washington and several other cities.
In recent years, whatever complaints they may have had, travelers have often received the comforts and flight schedules of full-fare service while paying discount prices as the major airlines have tried to match the discounters.
Delta, which believes the greatest competitive threats come from discount carriers, is expanding low-fare service.
