?Whaaat! There's more than two?? I hear you scream.
?You mean to tell me that there is more than just Uncle Stelios and his merry band in the tasteful orange corner and his arch nemesis Mr O'Leary and the shamrock brigade in the green one??
Big yes all round folks and the market is expanding like crazy with demand for new destinations popping up all over the place and it seems, airlines following suit!
OK let's look at a few of the major ones and see where we go from there. Firstly it has to be said that opinion is divided on the effect the arrival of the Low Cost Carriers has been on the industry but there can be no denying that it has opened up the skies and brought about an ever increasing diversity of routes and destinations and I guess for the consumer and holiday traveller this has to be good.
The knock on effect of this apparent abundance in routes and airlines servicing them is that more and more of us are being slightly more adventurous in our choice of where to go for short breaks. Once having tasted the delights of a weekend in Prague as opposed to two nights in Portsmouth more and more of us are coming back for more it would seem.
As I mentioned earlier whereas before the choice of where to go and how to get there was extremely limited now it would seem we are spoiled for choice.
However I digress from my very first question and that was how many Budget Airlines are there out there actually? The answer, ladies and gentlemen is a lot more than people think. Whilst the actual number of Low Cost Carriers varies due to a couple of anomalies in definition, what can be said is that there are definitely more Budget Airlines in Europe than ever before and possibly more than conventional main stream carriers. Now there's a turn up for the books if ever there was one.
If we just take the Low Cost Airlines servicing the United Kingdom and Ireland we appear to have more than 40. There are the major brand names that we all know and love such as easyJet and Ryanair but add to that the following names and you begin to get the picture.
In alphabetical order we have Aer Arann, Air Baltic, Air Berlin, Air Scotland, Air Southwest and Aurigny. We then have Blue1, Blue Islands, Bmibaby (the low cost arm of British Midland or BMI). Next there is Centralwings, Clickair, and Condor. There is Dba, easyJet, Estonian Air, FlyBE (the latest incarnation of what used to be known as Jersey European and latterly British European Airways), Flydba, FlyNiki, Fly Nordic, FlyThomasCook, FlyMe. There is German Wings, Globespan, HLX, Iceland Express, Jet 2, Lithuanian Airlines, Manx 2, Meridiana, Monarch Airlines, MyTravelLite, Norwegian Air, Planet Air and RyanAir. Lastly we have SkyEurope, Sterling European Airlines, Thomson Fly, Transavia, Virgin Express, VLM, Wizzair and XL Airways.
I am sure that this list is not exhaustive and knowing the way the industry has expanded would not be surprised if another airline had launched whilst this list was being compiled but as you can see, there are probably few places in the entire continent of Europe that you cannot now get to within a few hours from the UK and that has to be good for the holidaymaker and those in need of somewhere different to ?chill out? for the weekend.
So why are you still reading this and why have you not already popped down the nearest travel agent (or gone online) to book your next trip?
Go on, you know you want to?
One of the things many people do not realize is that different airlines charge very different rates for flying to the same location. Sometimes, one can find the cheapest airfare available simply by shopping around and checking the prices offered by different airlines. Finding the low cost carriers in any given region is possible if one takes the time to shop. Another difference that most don't notice is that which airlines are considered low cost carriers varies from one part of the country to another. This means that, in order to find the cheapest airfare, it may be a good idea to change airlines when making a connecting flight instead of simply changing planes within the same airline. Many different websites are set up to help a person find the lowest available airfare from one point to another. These websites generally only compare the total prices of single airlines when searching for the best deal. What these sites do not tell you is that the information they are selling you is readily available directly from the airlines. The catch is you would have to search the websites of each airline yourself to collect the information. Sometimes, it is better though to break the journey down into individual legs and examine the rates of different low cost carriers for the different legs of the journey to find the cheapest airfare overall. A website that would allow this using the airport codes for the destination, origin, and any connecting flight changeovers would help people get the most benefit of the lowest cost independent of which airlines are involved. What many people may overlook is that there is such a website. Anyone can go to optifly and map out their journey from point A to point B including connecting flights. By breaking the journey down into smaller parts, it is possible for a person to shop for the best rates from the point of origin to each connecting flight location and then on to the destination. In order to get the best deals all the way around, one should examine the individual rates of all the low cost carriers that operate between two points and consider buying tickets with different airlines to get the absolute cheapest airfare. Travelling is expensive in these days of skyrocketing fuel prices and poor economy. Looking for the cheapest airfare is best handled on the internet. There are several websites that handle making such comparisons, yet they do not always show the actual cheapest airfare between two points. Comparing the rates of low cost carriers between different points can offer a person the opportunity to change airlines at different points along the way to achieve the absolute cheapest airfare.
Both Stephenmorgan & Vikram Kuamr are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Stephenmorgan has sinced written about articles on various topics from Information Technology, Home Improvement and BMW. Stephen Morgan writes about a number of Internet based issues such as and. Stephenmorgan's top article generates over 550000 views. to your Favourites.
Vikram Kuamr has sinced written about articles on various topics from Search Engine Marketing, Medicine and Tanning. You may use the trip mapping capability of Optifly to arrange travel that optimizes the airfares. You could change planes and airlines at the same time in connecting cities to take advantage of. Vikram Kuamr's top article generates over 2240000 views. to your Favourites.