How do low cost airlines make money?

My tickets to Barcalona are 1.98p to the Airline. theres 4 of us so 8 quid or whatever. How on Earth do these people make money?

Do you get any of the tax?

no free peanuts



,,^._.^,,

1. They buy up the cheap landing slots at airports i.e. early morning
2. They reduce the amount of baggage passengers can take on board and get paid to ferry cargo in the space left in the hold

It is called "mass market" approach.
Instead of price-cost=profit!

Is: cost/profit=price

The more you fly to spread your fixed costs (aircraft lease, gas, crews, airport charges, etc.)

i work at the airport and i deal with ryanair and easyjet.... its because them flights go no matter what... a lot of the time you get people who pay for their flights and dont show up, like web check-ins for example.
sometimes they will take a loss but 99% of the time they make a huge profit because theyre so cheap and the flights get filled! i suppose the fact that ryanair cabin crew have to pay for their own uniforms and training helps them out financially a little too! also any bagage checked in on these flights is 拢10

-they make money with people booking last-minute flights which are very expense as opposed to booking well in advance
-if you bring more than the allowed amount of baggage they rip you off big time (I had to pay 2 times more than my ticket was before)
-you have to buy your own food and drinks on their flights
-you book online which saves money (meaning there's no cash anywhere, less accounting)
-everything is budget (less staff, smaller planes with more seats)
- any phone call to them is premium rate (awfully expensive)

1) The really cheap fares have to be booked in advance. The busier the flight on a popular route can be more expensive than a regular cost airline if booked at the last minute.

2) You have to pay for your food and drink.

3) You probably have to pay for your baggage to be placed in the hold.

4) The plane itself spends less time on the ground for cleaning and refuelling than with regular cost airlines - a regular cost airline may have four flights a day on a given route but a low cost airline may have eight flights.