BA fiasco shows air's getting thinner for legacy airlines

The airline industry battle between full-service carriers and discounters looks like an increasingly unfair fight. With BA still digging out of its weekend meltdown, Ryanair reported higher profit and announced plans to accelerate its European expansion. It’s the latest sign that legacy carriers are groping for ways to compete beyond just offering customers less and less for higher fares. The looming danger for airlines like British Airways and Lufthansa is that no-frills carriers are putting increasing pressure on the main source of their profits: long-haul travel. Ryanair, which is also moving into main hubs from secondary airports, has signed deals to feed passengers to Air Europa, Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA and even Aer Lingus, which has the same parent as British Airways. If Norwegian can show that its ambitious long-haul budget model can work, then the air will indeed become very thin for Europe’s legacy carriers. “Events like what happened with BA at Heathrow and Gatwick can only be good for our business,” Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said. “We’re certainly seeing a build-up yesterday and today into June, July, August, of people who are not willing to take the risk that they’ll be stranded by BA at Heathrow.” <br/>