These tricks do not translate well to long-haul travel. Sweating costly assets is harder on a ten-hour journey crossing several time zones than when darting around a region with fast turnaround times. That makes it difficult to schedule flights to take off and land at those odder, cheaper times. And exhausted crew must be accommodated in hotels rather than being immediately rostered back to their own beds at the end of the day.
这些花招并不能很好地适用于长途旅行。在跨越多个时区的10个小时的旅程中,耗费昂贵的资产比在周转时间快的地区穿梭更困难。这使得航班很难被安排在那些奇怪又便宜的时间起飞和降落。精疲力竭的工作人员必须住进酒店,而不是在一天结束后立即被安排他们回到自己的床上。
JetBlue thinks it can overcome these obstacles. In contrast to Norse Atlantic, a new carrier that thinks it can make better use of the wide-body Boeing 787 Dreamliner, 15 of which it is now leasing, the American airline is using a new breed of aircraft, the Airbus A321LR. This is a long-range version of the European planemaker’s single-aisle short-haul workhorse. These are cheaper than wide-body jets. They are also smaller, and so easier to fill.
捷蓝航空认为它可以克服这些障碍。新成立的北大西洋航空公司认为自己可以更好地利用宽体波音787梦幻客机(其中15架目前是租赁来的),相比之下,捷蓝这家美国航空公司使用的是一种新型飞机——空客A321LR。这是欧洲飞机制造商的单通道短途主力机型的远程版本。这些飞机比宽体喷气式飞机更便宜。它们的体积也更小,因此更容易填满。
And JetBlue has another card to play. The standard business of long-haul flying makes competing on price difficult. Full-service airlines rely on selling lucrative business-class seats at the front of the plane for the bulk of their revenues and profits. As a result, they can afford to sell economy seats relatively cheaply. Unlike most earlier low-cost efforts, JetBlue’s planes will include 24 business seats which should plump up margins. To attract business passengers it has steered clear of remote airports that executives dislike and picked up slots at Heathrow freed up by pandemic flight cuts.
捷蓝航空还有另一张牌要打。长途飞行的标准业务使价格竞争变得困难。提供全方位服务的航空公司的大部分收入和利润,都依赖于出售利润丰厚的位于飞机前部商务舱座位。因此,他们能够以相对低廉的价格出售经济舱座位。与大多数早先为降低成本所做的努力不同,捷蓝航空的飞机将配备24个商务舱座位,这将会提高利润率。为了吸引商务旅客,公司避开了高管不喜欢的偏远机场,选择了希思罗机场因疫情航班削减而腾出的空位。
JetBlue plans a further service to London Gatwick starting in September and from Boston to London next summer. Norse intends to fly between several European and American destinations. But full-service carriers will not take the challenge on their most lucrative routes lying down. American carriers succeeded in lobbying their domestic regulators to slow Norwegian’s expansion. Incumbents including IAG, owner of British Airways, have launched their own low-cost-long-haul subsidiaries. Laker offers a sobering lesson. He successfully sued several legacy airlines for predatory pricing — but only after he had been forced out of business.
捷蓝航空计划从9月份开始进一步开通飞往伦敦盖特威克机场的航班,并于明年夏天开通从波士顿飞往伦敦的航班。挪威航空公司打算在欧洲和美国的几个目的地之间飞行。但提供全方位服务的航空公司不会在他们最赚钱的航线上接受挑战。美国航空公司成功地游说了国内监管机构,让他们减缓挪威航空的扩张。包括英国航空公司所有者国际航空集团(IAG)在内的老牌航空公司都推出了自己的廉价长途子公司。莱克航空提供了一个发人深省的教训。它成功地起诉了几家传统航空公司的掠夺性定价——只不过这是在公司被迫倒闭之后。
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