Ryanair, the Irish bargain-basement airline, which excels only in deepening the no-frills experience, is now claiming to be ‘the world’s favorite airline’ – an appellation which for years was the proud strapline for British Airways. Ryanair claims to have carried twice the number of passengers than BA during the month of June.
Oh, how the mighty are humbled.
BA made a loss of £201 million in June (attributed to a continuing fall in premium traffic) is shedding thousands of jobs, and is controversially asking its staff to work for one month without pay.
Virgin Atlantic, its bitter rival, which seems to be in relatively better shape, is also shedding jobs and trimming routes.
Meanwhile, easyJet, which claims to be ‘the UK’s largest airline,’ announces that it is opening 15 new routes across Europe for its 2009/10 winter schedule.