Opodo

The name "opodo" is an ambigram, with rotational symmetry. It has been claimed that unsubsidized low fare trans-oceanic travel will finally become affordable following the development of an extended version of the Airbus A380, which will be able to hold up to 1,000 persons. Opodo also runs other successful online travel businesses such as Travellink in the Nordic region (Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finaland) - see http://www.travellink.no, http://www.travellink.se, http://www.travellink.dk, http://www.travellink.fi, and in France Karavel at http://www.karavel.fr and http://www.promovacances.fr and http://www.vivacances.fr as well as a tour operator offering tailor-made deals to Australia, New Zealand, Middle East, South Africa, America, and the Far East from the UK at http://www.questtravel.co.uk. Late in 2004 the Canadian airline Zoom Airlines also started selling transatlantic flights between Glasgow, UK; Manchester, UK; and Canada for £89. For United Kingdom customers see http://www.opodo.co.uk, for German customers see http://www.opodo.de, for French customers see http://www.opodo.fr, for Italian customers see http://www.opodo.it Spanish customers should visit: http://www.opodo.es. In 2004 the Irish company Aer Lingus lowered its prices to compete with companies such as Ryanair and also started offering no-frills transatlantic flights for just above €100. Opodo operates out of nine European countries. The service was suspended after Laker's competitors, British Airways and Pan Am, were able to price Skytrain out of the market.

Opodo offers a full worldwide range of travel products including flights (from more than 500 scheduled and low cost airlines), package holidays, dynamic packaging, city-breaks, hotels, car rental, event tickets, excursions, ski holidays, cottages, holiday rentals, and cruises. The first airline offering no-frills transatlantic service was Freddie Laker's Laker Airways, which operated its famous "Skytrain" service between London and New York City during the late 1970s. The travel technology provider Amadeus is a majority shareholder. In 2004, Ryanair announced proposals to eliminate reclining seats, window blinds, seat headrest covers, and seat pockets from its aircraft. It is a pan-European enterprise, owned by a consortium of European airlines, including British Airways, Air France, Alitalia, Iberia, KLM, Lufthansa, Aer Lingus, Austrian Airlines and Finnair. In Europe, the emphasis has remained on reducing costs and no-frills service. Opodo is like Orbitz an Internet travel agency. America West Airlines, now a part of the US Airways Group, offers a first class product, for example, while JetBlue Airways advertises satellite television.

In the US, airlines have responded by introducing variations to the model. As the number of low-cost carriers has grown, these airlines have begun to compete with one another in addition to the traditional carriers. This set-back may block Air Asia's Singapore expansion ambitions. Malaysia's Air Asia made repeated attempts to set up a Singaporean operation, but its insistence in using Seletar Airport, in addition to other demands to cut airport usage charges, delayed its abilities in gaining the relevant permits from the authorities in Singapore.

Not to be outdone, Singapore Changi Airport's second most dominant carrier, Qantas Airways, also started its Asian offshoot, Jetstar Asia Airways based in Singapore and commencing operations on December 13, 2004. On May 5, 2004, Singapore's first low-cost carrier, Valuair was launched, prompting dominant carrier Singapore Airlines to invest in a new low-cost startup, Tiger Airways, to beat the competition. Freedom Air continues to provide discount services between Australia and New Zealand. Fierce competition on the trans-Tasman routes lead to the collapse of Kiwi Airlines in 1996.

In 1995, Air New Zealand established a low-fare subsidiary, Freedom Air, in response the commencement of discount trans-tasman services by the upstart Kiwi Airlines. Qantas has launched two low cost carriers: JetStar competes with Virgin Blue in the Australian domestic market, while Australian Airlines operates internationally to Asian destinations. The former was short-lived, while Virgin Blue has become the nation's second largest airline. In 2000 Impulse and Virgin Blue commenced low cost operations bringing fierce competition to Australian cities.

Australia's first low cost airline was Compass which launched operations in 1990 but was short lived. After three months of bankrupt of Flying Finn, the other operator Blue1 began flights to three best-profitable destinations of Flying Finn. In Finland the competition went in a different direction, as the national carrier Finnair lowered prices so that the low-cost competitor Flying Finn was forced to cease its operations. IndiGo Airlines recently placed an order for 100 Airbus A320s worth 6 billion USD during the Paris Air Show; the highest by any Asian domestic carrier.

Air Deccan now faces stiff competition from other low-cost Indian carriers such as Kingfisher Airlines, SpiceJet, GoAir and Paramount Airways. The success of Air Deccan has spurred the entry of more than a dozen low-cost airlines in India. The airline's fare for the Delhi-Bangalore route were 30% less than those offered by its rivals such as Indian Airlines, Air Sahara and Jet Airways on the same route. India's first low-cost airline, Air Deccan started service on August 25, 2003.

(Jetsgo itself ceased operations on March 11, 2005.). Air Canada operated two low-fare subsidiaries, Tango and Zip, but both were discontinued. In Canada, Air Canada has found it difficult to compete with new low-cost rivals such as Westjet, Canjet, and Jetsgo despite its previously dominant position in the market: Air Canada entered a period of bankruptcy protection in 2003, but emerged from protection in September 2004. Two exceptions to this have been bmi's bmibaby and Qantas's Jetstar which both successfully operates alongside its full-service counterpart.

Many carriers opted to launch their own no-frills airlines, such as KLM's Buzz, British Airways' Go Fly, and United's Ted, but have found it difficult to avoid cannibalizing their core business. From 2001 to 2003, when the aviation industry was rocked by terrorism, war and SARS, the large majority of traditional airlines suffered heavy losses while low-cost carriers generally stayed profitable. Low-cost carriers pose a serious threat to traditional "full service" airlines, since the high cost structure of full-service carriers prevents them from competing effectively on price - the most important factor among most consumers when selecting a carrier. As of 2004, low cost carriers are now edging into Australasia, led by operators such as Malaysia's Air Asia, and Australia's Virgin Blue.

With the advent of aviation deregulation the model spread to Europe as well, the most notable successes being Ireland's Ryanair, which began low-fares operations in 1991, and easyJet, formed in 1995. Often, this credit has been incorrectly given to Southwest Airlines which began service in 1971 and has been profitable every year since 1973. The first successful low-cost carrier was Pacific Southwest Airlines in the United States, which pioneered the concept when their first flight took place on May 6, 1949. Typical low-cost carrier business model practices include:.

. The concept originated in the United States before spreading to Europe in the early 1990s and subsequently to much of the rest of the world. A low-cost carrier or low cost airline (also known as a no-frills or discount carrier / airline) is an airline that offers generally low fares in exchange for eliminating many traditional passenger services. "Free" in-flight catering and other "complimentary" services are eliminated, and replaced by optional paid-for in-flight food and drink.

employees working in multiple roles, for instance flight attendants also cleaning the aircraft or working as gate agents (limiting personnel costs). emphasis on direct sales of tickets, especially over the Internet (avoiding fees and commissions paid to travel agents and corporate booking systems). simplified routes, emphasizing point-to-point transit instead of transfers at hubs (again enhancing aircraft utilization). short flights and fast turnaround times (allowing maximum utilization of planes).

flying to cheaper, less congested secondary airports (avoiding air traffic delays and taking advantage of lower landing fees). unreserved seating (encouraging passengers to board early and quickly). a simple fare scheme (typically fares increase as the plane fills up, which rewards early reservations, known as "yield management"). a single type of airplane, commonly the Airbus A320 or Boeing 737 (reducing training and servicing costs).

a single passenger class.