The changing world of the airline sector dominated much of the panel debate between the industry’s leaders at the TTNG conference in Split last weekend.
Looking at the changing tactics of Ryanair, which has recently started being sold through GDS systems, TTNG group commercial director Martin Andrew questioned whether a panel of industry leaders believed this bid to woo the trade was a short-term ploy.
“I don’t think so,” replied Simon Ferguson, UK and Ireland managing director of Travelport. “Who would have thought they would come back and embrace travel agents? But with the airline orders they have in place for the future, Ryanair will need to attract a different type of passenger than they have done before.
“If they take a short-term view, they’ll get a short-term response,” he added.
“EasyJet has changed its model – more than 20% of its customers are business travellers, and Norwegian Air is trying to make the low-cost model work on long-haul – the market is changing.”
