{"id":2250,"date":"2019-11-08T10:16:57","date_gmt":"2019-11-08T10:16:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/travel\/?p=2250"},"modified":"2019-11-08T10:17:07","modified_gmt":"2019-11-08T10:17:07","slug":"this-week-in-travel-november-8-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/travel\/this-week-in-travel-november-8-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week In Travel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It’s back! Our weekly TWIT (This Week In Travel) notes have returned, just in time for your weekend reading, This week, we’ll learn why European carriers are seeing red, duty-free passengers may have better options and Delta international passengers will have an improved future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Europe, We Have A Problem…<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Twenty years ago, the United States had seven major carriers<\/a> and a few minor ones and, for airlines, it was the worst of times. Given the competition in virtually every major market, it was hard for any of them to make a consistent profit. With the exception of Southwest<\/a>, all of them experienced Chapter 11<\/a>, and a couple went back for 22 or 33. And finally, they were merged out of their misery. Now, four major US carriers have 80% of the market share, they’ve divvied up the country nicely and profits are at or near records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article from Quartz<\/a> points out that the situation isn’t so cozy for the European carriers, who face multiple problems. When you’re dealing with multiple nations, mergers aren’t so easy and more than one carrier has stumbled over an integration. At this point, the top four European carriers only control 40% of the market, leaving upstarts plenty of room to drive down fares (and profits) in any major market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it’s even worse than it seems for the region’s cash flow. The second-largest carrier is Ryan Air, which also happens to have the lowest costs and the best financial positioning. They have zero interest in industry consolidation and have a stated purpose of lowering<\/em> fares every year. When you have an ultra-low cost carrier business model, that tends to work out fine for you, but it makes your competitors miserable. The bottom line? It’s going to be tough for the region’s carriers to make breakout profits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Duty-Free Shopping Isn’t Always What It’s Cracked Up To Be<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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