Originally Posted by tracon
Airlines are roughly equal when it comes to expenses. Fuel is roughly the same, landing fees, navigation fees, financing costs are all close to the same.
The efficencies come from fast turn arounds and getting your employees to do as much work for as little compensation as possible.
At the risk of double posting (though a search on "Turbulent Skies" didn't find anything), this links to an interesting Economist article "Turbulent Skies" about LCC...
http://www.economist.com/printeditio...ory_ID=2897525
"Innovative and bold low-cost carriers have transformed the airline industry on both sides of the Atlantic. But are they now doomed to lose their momentum?"