No Frills: The Truth Behind the Low-cost Revolution in the Skies

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Virgin Books, 2002 - Business & Economics - 276 pages
The rise of a new and dynamic low cost airlines, led by easyJet, Ryanair, Go and Buzz, is currently Europe's biggest business success story. Massively innovative marketing strategy, youthful and larger-than-life executives, and high profile personality clashes all feature in this 'David and Goliath' saga with only one winner: the airline passenger, who for the first time in aviation history gets the best end of the deal.
Millions of people who were previously wary of air travel on the grounds of expense are now cheerfully winging their way around Europe at rock bottom prices and adding to the quality of their lives.
But where did it all start? Who came up with the idea of ticketless booking via the Internet? How do these airlines make such profits when they virtually sell the seats for free? Is this the pattern for all future air travel? And possibly the biggest question of all: are they safe?
Simon Calder, Britain's leading investigative travel journalist, probes deep beneath the surface of highly successful recent television programmes like Airline and proves that an attractively unique proposition plus top business skills can still get the required result even in these difficult times. The triple whammy of astonishing low-priced tickets, interesting and off-the-beaten-track destination, and the popular use of conventional local and regional airports with fast turnaround times, has enabled these modern pioneers to reinvent the travel habits of a nation.

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About the author (2002)

Based in London, England, Simon Calder is travel editor of the national newspaper The Independent and a radio and tv broadcaster, as well as the author of several Vacation Work titles.

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