Cost to coast: brace brace brace!

The first command that we are trained to give passengers when the aircraft is making an emergency landing (water or land) is to brace. To adopt the most suitable impact position for the landing. These positions were created specifically to reduce the injuries and enhance life expectancy in case of a real life emergency landing. 

The most suitable example would be a car crashing against a concrete wall at 100 km / h: a deceleration is produced in just a phew seconds but the body continues travelling at the same speed, there is when the seat belt and the body impact prevention position helps to reduce the G force that the body feels. Something that also happens is that the backrest of the seat that you have in front of you and also yours (doesn´t matter if you are in First, Business and Economy) will bend forward. This is created so that the backseat protects you against flying objects that could harm you during the rough deceleration of the aircraft.

The rapid transformation and re generation of several airlines to re adjust and re adapt to the world financial crisis has been felt worldwide and here is where this traumatic G force has really affected carriers around the world. This is why a total of 189 airlines only in the United Stated of America territory had declared bankruptcy since 1990 (The Associated Press statistics - 2011) and worldwide an average of 800 airline carriers have closed, declared bankrupt or became a subsidiary of another airline. 

In spite of the generation of new concepts as for example the creation of an all business class carrier, ex called Atlantic Express and then re baptized Eos Airline based in New York (2004 – 2008), it couldn´t survived the raise of oil prices, airport operational and Government licenses, flying permissions, amenities for passengers, in-flight catering, ground and air staff, crew training, insurance, taxes and fees, trade union so and so on.

To have a more accurate idea of financial figures here you may see certain average costs:

A 737-700, the basic Boeing from the category 737 cost an average of in 2012 of U$S 74.8 million while the new 747-8 is an average of U$S 351.4 milion – Boeing.

Jet-fuel price may vary from the bottom point of this year that was proximally 265 cents/ gallon (April 2013) and its highest pick almost 308 cents / gallon (July 2013) – Air Transport Association, “Argus daily composite jet-fuel price for Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles and New York”.

In matter of the tax burden, so you can get an idea has “nearly tripled since 1972, rising from $22 (7 percent) to $61 (20 percent)” - Airlines for America.

A pilot with 10 years of experience may cost in the year 2013 an average of U$S 89.000 according to the website SimplyHired.

So you can get an idea of how much does airline food business moves just ask LSG Sky Chefs by LSG Lufthansa Service Holding AG subsidiary of Deutsche Lufthansa Ag, which just made revenue of € 2.5 billion from the year 2012. The prime customers of this group are: Czech Airlines, Tam Airlines, Qantas, Alaska Airline and Lufthansa. According to MSN Money in “The Death of the Airline Meal” the cost of a meal service per passenger in an extra long haul flight for a US Carrier could be as low as U$S 3, 5.

So the breakdown of a $300 domestic roundtrip ticket from Los Angeles to Chicago in the year 2013 according to the Airline for America is:

20 % Federal Government Taxes, that are U$S 64.19

21 % Fuel Cost, that are U$S 63.47

17 % of Labor Expenses, that are U$S 51.52

41 % of Non-Labor / Fuel operating and other expresses, that are U$S 123.11

Leaving the airline a profit of 0.1 %, that is 41 cents of an American US dollar. This is why American companies make cutbacks in many amenities and services towards passengers:

Ex-Northwest Airline (USA) now Delta Airlines, in the year 2005 eliminated free pretzels saving the airline a total of U$S 2 million that year. Another clear example of cutbacks was in the year 1987 when American Airlines remove one olive from each salad in First Class saving an average of U$S 40,000 that year. And the extreme case is by low cost airline Ryanair (based in Dublin – Ireland), when they reported in October of 2011 the elimination of all bathrooms except one, so in that way the airline may enhance the seating rows of the aircraft and reduce the air fare an average of 5 % per passenger. Now a day’s Air France reduced the quantity of products offered to Business Class passengers in their amenity kits and also they pinned Business Class headsets’ to their seats so they won´t get removed from the aircraft, because of this many times they are dirty or obsolete as they are broken.

When it comes to non low coast carriers the reduction of amenities and commodities to passengers affects directly the satisfaction of customers even so they promote an amazing marketing work to lower the impact of those decision in the clientele. So if you take something from a place to enhance another thing from another place, what is the true cost in a short, medium and long range? Is it worthy?  Even so they brace for impact the sudden deceleration will affect somehow and someway their structures.

European and American budget airline carriers have lost the battle this past years in matters of service and excellence, as for now they have not been seen in the top ranking of Skytrax. This is why Middle East and Asian carriers have set foot in excellence and innovation adapting a modern fleet to satisfy customer needs. But the main reason that they may do this is because Middle East has the oil and trade unions don´t exist, many countries in the region don't pay high taxes or even they don't have and wages for air and ground staff are not as high as American or European ones. And on the other hand in many countries in Asia trade unions also don´t exist but at the same time they are not into a borderline recession as the past years as many countries in Europe or even United States, also wages for ground and air staff are not so high and this particulary region controls the main production of commodities worldwide. 

Even so these airlines are currently flying high to the future they should have a clear view that oil will eventually strike out and that people tend to believe more in their human rights defending them with much more conviction than many years ago. They will just have to remember to be responsible and responsive for their own safety procedures in case of an emergency landing.