Since September, at the end of the summer season, full-service airlines have released fall promotions, adopting marketing strategies similar to those of the low-cost competitors. Also, they provide all sorts of new facilities to the passengers, in order to balance the decline in traffic, such as free luggage transport. In these circumstances, the business strategy adopted by the classical airlines is somehow similar to that of the low-cost companies, the only ones that registered an increased rate of occupancy even during the economic crisis.
British Airways, Air France-KLM, Lufthansa, Tarom are some full-service airlines that in recent months have launched some price promotions through which air ticket prices are almost the same as for those of low-cost operators.
The national operator, Tarom, introduced new destinations in the flight schedule, as the same time launching low-price offers. For example, Tarom’s route Bucharest-Amsterdam will be operated daily, and the price of a round trip, including taxes, starts from 137 euros. Bucharest-Venice is another operational route, six times a week and the price of a round trip, with taxes included, starts from 126 euros.
According to the Association of European Airlines (AEA) statistics, amongst the full-service air operators, Tarom appears with 1.1 million passengers from January to September, with 10.6% less than the same period of 2008. In the first nine months of this year, the Romanian operator recorded an average occupancy level of 55.6%, with 8.5 percentage points below the level in the same period in 2008.
