Thursday, October 20, 2011

No change to low fares, assures REDjet CEO

REDjet will not be abandoning its low fares model.

This is the assurance of the airline’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ian Burns as he rejected claims that such a step would become necessary in the case of expanding its list of destinations to smaller Caribbean islands.

The claim had come from LIAT’s CEO Brian Challenger, who stated earlier this week in
another section of the press that REDjet would have to change its aircraft to accommodate flights into certain islands, leading to a move away from its current low fare model.

Burns however, said that the model would not be changed as the airline had entered the market because of the need for low airfares in travelling throughout the region.

“REDjet is a low fare airline. REDjet’s business model is what it is and if we were flying to destinations that did not meet our model that would be silly. We have a very simple business model and we will not be moving away from our low fares,” he said.

Speaking to members of the media during a briefing on Monday at Island Inn, he explained, “We are not here to do damage to anybody, we are here to grow markets. If you look at the statistics on the Guyana route for example, this is what has happened. Market has grown by 83 per cent, we have put roughly 85 per cent capacity onto that route,” he explained.

“People can be always sceptical about things but you always have to look at the evidence and the evidence is that REDjet is growing markets,” he said, adding that “the low fare model has worked the best in countries and regions whose economies have been suffering the most because people are more cost conscious and therefore they need affordable transport”.

http://www.barbadosadvocate.com

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