The Airlines

Jean-Louis Baroux has been working in the airlines industry for over 40 years. In this hard-hitting book, he presents the inside story of the airlines and examines why it is mainly low-cost airlines which are profi table. Baroux looks at the sometimes peculiar practices adopted by the big carriers and argues that they have lost touch with their clients and passengers, which is one of the main reasons why they have become largely unprofi table. In analyzing the way air transport is really managed, Baroux’s hope is to help the sector rediscover its roots. For, as Baroux argues, “the people in charge of air travel have taken away the pleasure of fl ying, and it was not even done to make money. They have taught the consumers that their product is worthless, since nobody is paying the same rate. In other words, they have destroyed the value of their product. And they are amazed that the customers are no longer prepared to pay prices which they can live on. Blaming the environment, the price of oil, volcanic eruptions or whatever is not enough to explain the collapse. They did it themselves”.