Rumours of Ryanair's demise are exaggerated

So, the CEO of Germanwings, Thomas Winkelmann, believes that Ryanair will ultimately fail as it does not attract the corporate market (interviewed in Travelmole on 28 October).

I am sorry, Herr Winkelmann, you are wrong! If Ryanair ever fails, it will either be due to an accident or a total collapse of customer service. The Germanwings chief implies that failure to attract the corporate market is the Achilles Heel of the strategy. Frankly, it the the corporate market that has been shaky in the crisis.

Herr Winkelmann states, "taxpayers in destinations should not have to bear the brunt of Ryanair's business model." OK, I can see the point that taxpayers do apparently foot the bill for subsidies allegedly paid to Ryanair at certain destinations, but this ignores the point that Ryanair's presence has had an enormous positive impact on local economies throughout Europe.

Let's consider this: Germanwings is owned by Lufthansa, and I seem to recall that Juergen Weber, a former CEO of the German national carrier, was convinced that travellers prefer to pay extra for better service. Well, that proved to be completely wrong too. It may be the case that Ryanair is the airline that everyone likes to hate, but their CEO, Michael O'Leary, hit the spot when he declared that Europeans are prepared to crawl naked over broken glass for cheap fares.

Green report card: Making progress but could do better

Last week ICAO staged a 'High Level Meeting' in Montreal in an attempt to get some ducks in order before the long-awaited climate conference in Copenhagen in December. There was no particular surprise that delegates rubber-stamped a 2% per annum fuel efficiency improvement target, which effectively means an extrapolation of what the industry has already been doing for many years. But at least this is more stringent than the airline industry's self-imposed efficiency target of 1.5%. However, beyond that, there was some disappointment. The ICAO delegates' Declaration talked about a further 'aspirational' goal of 2% from 2021 to 2050, plus some weak talk about supporting the use of biofuels and a need to develop an economic framework. There was no mention of carbon neutral growth from 2020, or a 50% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050 compared to 2005, which is what the industry has imposed upon itself.

So, in summary, we have a situation where the industry has set tougher targets than their regulating states, who appear content to see the airlines forge ahead with a net growth in CO2 emissions.

ICAO will have another go at debating the issue at their Assembly in September 2010. Meanwhile, the spectre of a fragmenting patchwork of regional and national schemes still hangs over the industry.

As always, it's hard to be green these days.

Make sure you 'go' before you go

Here's the pottiest story I've heard for a long time. All Nippon Airways is hoping that half of its passengers on Singapore and domestic flights will spend a penny before boarding their flight. Passengers are being asked to pay a visit to the bathroom in order to (how can I put this?) lighten the load. The airline has worked out that the fuel savings due to lighter passengers would reduce CO2 emissions by 4.2 tonnes per month. An experiment is under way this month and, if successful, may be extended. Japanese culture comes into play here. There is no mention of the word 'bathroom'. Instead, an announcement is made before boarding which merely suggests that passengers spend a moment to think about planet Earth. How subtle.

But let's see this in context. Japan is the world's fifth largest CO2 contributor, the total generated in 2007 amounting to 1.37 billion tonnes. So, it would take a mere 27 million years of flying for All Nippon Airways to single-handedly turn Japan into a carbon neutral country.

Back to the drawing board, I fear....

Will that be Sardine Class, Sir?

We’ve seen a lot of nonsense about how far the low-cost airlines will go in extracting money from the pockets of their customers. I think everyone’s fed up with Ryanair’s proposal that people should pay to use the toilets on board an aircraft. Let’s admit it; Michael O’Leary has a great sense of humour. But I am still amazed at how the low-cost airlines are still talking about standing passengers. Unsurprisingly, Ryanair is on the bandwagon but, more surprisingly, Spring Airlines of China is seriously proposing so-called half-standing seats, which would take the capacity of an A320 from 180 to a whopping 258. Spring is now urging low-cost airlines to club together and address the industrialisation challenges.

Now, it’s good to dream, but has anyone stopped to think about emergency evacuation constraints? Or the impact of the increased payload on the design weights? And where do you put the extra baggage anyway? But wait! Sardine seating is perfect for the military, so maybe the designers will equip passengers with parachutes too, so then at least we can forget about the 16g load limit.

We are already being tortured by oppressive security checks, huge congestion at overcrowded airports, problems with delayed and lost baggage. No-one can convince me that 'standing room only' aircraft is progress.

The power of one

The other day I was speaking to Dave Carroll, the musician who famously had his guitar broken by United Airlines baggage handlers. Dave had just come back from Washington, where he had been giving testimony at a hearing on passenger rights. He had been asked to attend the hearing by Kate Hanni, who leads flyersrights.org. That organisation is lobbying for a maximum amount of time that an airline can keep people 'hostage' in delayed aircraft before giving them the opportunity to get off. One of the issues is that airlines should provide basic amenities, such as potable water, for passengers in such a situation. Dave Carroll wants airlines to allow musicians to take their instruments on board aircraft. Isn't it good to see individuals getting the opportunity to challenge the airlines like this?

You would think that airlines would be taking these matters somewhat more seriously, especially after the embarrassment that United suffered after Dave's song United Breaks Guitars captured over five million YouTube views. But Dave is adamant that airlines still have a long way to go in understanding that their market is made up by a collection of individuals. Says Dave, "I'm not sure the airlines are learning anything". Meanwhile, the second United Breaks Guitars song has been uploaded onto YouTube. Will Dave see through his promise to issue a third song? "I said I would do three and I'm going to do three," he told me.

Dave Carroll has a good piece of advice if you happen to checking in a delicate item. Never ask for a 'Fragile' sticker. "It's a target," he says. "I know of baggage handlers who look for items with 'Fragile' stickers so they can break them."

You have been warned....