Hi all,
Here's an article from The Guardian which might be of interest for some.
All the best,
Alastair
=20
Mark Tran
Monday January 7, 2002=20
EasyJet, Europe's second largest budget airline, today provided a rare=
=20
piece of good news for beleaguered aircraft manufacturers when it=20
announced plans to buy 75 new planes.
At a time when the world's airlines are cutting back in the worst
airline=20
slump for 10 years, the Luton-based firm is bucking the trend. The
company=20
said it has already started discussions with Boeing and Airbus about=
=20
placing the largest-ever order from a European budget carrier,
thought to=20
be worth about =A32.7bn.
The move follows a period of rapid growth for the discount airline,=20
founded six years ago by Stelios Haji-Ioannou with a =A35m loan from=
his=20
father. The company currently has a 27-strong fleet and wants to
acquire=20
another 75 aircraft by 2007 to capture more short-haul business from=
=20
national carriers.=20
EasyJet's announcement is likely to trigger fierce competition for the=
=20
contract from Boeing and Airbus. The downturn in the airline industry,=
=20
exacerbated by the September 11 attacks, has led to a sharp decline in=
=20
aircraft manufacturing and Boeing and Airbus are keen for new orders.
The company's fleet is made up entirely of Boeing aircraft, but=
easyJet=20
has expressed interest in acquiring Airbus aircraft for the first=
time.
"The Airbus has not previously been operated by easyJet or other
low-cost=20
airlines as its original capacity was limited to 145 seats - against
the=20
149-seat Boeing 737-300/700," said easyJet chief executive Ray=
Webster.=20
"However, Airbus has informed us that the A319 will be available with
up=20
to 150-seat capacity, which makes it a viable competitive=
alternative."
EasyJet said the order would go to only one firm, with an
announcement on=20
the winner expected in around three months. The company's expansion
plans=20
come two months after it successfully raised =A393.3m through a City
share=20
offer.
Although traditional carriers such as British Airways have been
hard-hit=20
by the airline slump, discount airlines such as easyJet and Ryanair
have=20
seen their passenger numbers increase substantially in recent months=
=20
through aggressive discount offers.=20
But some analysts warn that the budget carriers will find conditions
more=20
difficult once the big airlines begin to recover.
For now, easyJet is one of the success stories of the skies. Last
year it=20
carried 5.6m passengers and made a profit of =A322m.=20
The company - started by Mr Haji-Ioannou when he became bored with
running=20
a branch of the family shipping business in Athens - has doubled in
size=20
every year since its first flight in 1995 and its founder has become
one=20
of the UK's most high-profile businessmen.=20
***************************************
Dr. Alastair T. Gardiner
Microbial Photosynthesis Lab 217
Davidson Building
IBLS-Division of Biochemistry & Mol. Biol.
University of Glasgow
Glasgow G12 8QQ
Scotland
Tel. (+44) 141 330 6449
Fax. (+44) 141 330 4620
E-mail. atg3v@udcf.gla.ac.uk
http://www.gla.ac.uk/ibls/BMB/rjc/agardiner.html
**************************************
Personal web pages at
http://www.geocities.com/atg3v
Have a look at my airliner photography at
http://airliners.net/search/photo.search?emailsearch=3Datg3v@udcf.gla.ac.uk