Originally Posted by
chongcao
I think at some stage BA must change to meet the demand of the market. The current 2 class Europe travel is inadequate for people who dishes out thousand of pounds to travel long haul first or full fate business class on them. A newly designed 3 class service can retain the flexibility while look after the most premium pax.
IAG gets 15% Gross Margin, 15% Return on Invested Capital in an industry where it is said that to become a rich man in aviation you have start as a very rich man. Very few airline groups of its type can pump out year-on-year results of that calibre. The entire demand of the market, as far as I can tell, still hinges on pretty tough competition with relentless focus on fares generally going downwards, more people on the same aircraft, 48 people in CE to HEL. Sir Freddie Laker's Skytrain fares in today's money would be £700 for New York, BA does it for £275, and I see zero evidence or clamour for the return of higher fares along the lines you suggest.
The model you present would definitely and immediately be adopted by BA the moment it became clear that this really was going to make money. Why? Because IAG loves making profits. Over in the real world it seems to have discovered that an entirely different, almost opposite strategy is what is filling up its aircraft at the same time as filling up its bank account.