[jimworcs]

I do believe that.. when markets were opened up in Europe, that is exactly what happened. There were many start ups and some of them have grown very rapidly, operating exactly as I have said.

In 1997, Europe opened up it's internal market, despite opposition from the big existing national carriers. More than 100 airlines started up, some thrived.. others failed. Some of the largests airlines in Europe are relative recent startups. Easyjet was started in the 1990's, Ryanair started in 1985, but expanded rapidly only after the opening up of the European market. Air Berlin in 2000 (although it was previously a US company), Germanwings, Wizzair, Vueling, Flybe, etc. Not all are low cost models, but what characterises them are they are point to point and they have rapidly expanded the air market in Europe.

They have had a significant impact on air travel in Europe, without some of the excesses and abuse meted out to long suffering passengers in the US. Take a look at Skytrax and see how far US airlines have fallen in customer satisfaction and service quality ratings. The reason this has occurred is because they are monopolists who are distorting normal market forces. Sooner or later something has to be done about it.. it is abusive.

There are more people employed in air travel today in Europe than ever before. It did not reduce employment it increased it. Whilst some airlines (Ryanair) are less than ideal employers, Easyjet pays the second highest of any UK based airline and is a low cost model. Low cost doesn't have to equate with low wages. Similarly, Vueling and Air Berlin have good records in treating their employees well.

Unless the US wakes up and smells the coffee, the system will continue to abuse passengers.