Cleared for Take-Off

Thomas Lawton is Senior Lecturer in Strategic Management at Imperial College Management School, University of London, UK. He holds degrees from University College Cork and the London School of Economics and Political Science and has a doctorate from the European University Institute. He is the author of Technology and the New Diplomacy (Avebury, 1997), European Industrial Policy and Competitiveness (Macmillan Business, 1999) and Strange Power (Ashgate, 2000). He is Managing Director of Nimbus Consulting Ltd, a firm specialising in management development and strategic business improvement.

'Tom Lawton has written an excellent book on the latest and fastest growing aspect of European aviation. He describes the emergence of the low fare carriers in the 1990s against a background of liberalization and increasing congestion, especially at major hub airports. The Ryanair model is contrasted with that of more recent low cost entrants in Europe, and similar developments in other parts of the world are also included. Predictions are difficult in this fast moving industry, but Lawton gives some pointers to the future, the depth of analysis provides the reader with more than enough material to draw their own conclusions.' Peter Morrell, Head of Air Transport Group, Cranfield University, UK ’Experts believe that the advent of low fare carriers is the single most important source of economic benefits generated from liberalization and deregulation of airline markets during the past two decades. Low cost carriers such as Southwest Airlines and Ryanair will continue to change rapidly the competitive landscape of the entire global airline industry, markets and the way consumers travel. In this much needed book, Dr. Lawton does an excellent job of examining business strategies of low airfare carriers and their impacts on full service airlines as well as describing the history, current status and future prospects of low fare airlines and their markets in a comprehensive manner. For this reason, I recommend this book strongly to airline executives, researchers, policy makers, regulators, and graduate students.’ Professor Tae Oum, Director, Centre for Transportation, University of British Columbia, Canada ’Thomas Lawton has compiled an impressive list of sources, and spoken to a number of key figures in the business...Lawton's preparation provides the reader with confidence that the insights gained from the book are based on sound industrial knowledge...an ideal introduction to the subject...Lawton has valuable contributions to make inthe field, particula

• Contents: Prologue: setting the scene; Liberalizing Europe’s air ways; The emergence of low fare competitors in Europe; Structure and competition in the European Airline industry; Getting the balance right: price-based competition and the cost-service trade-off; Leader of the pack: the Ryanair model; The contenders: competing low fare carriers in Europe; Trans-Atlantic lessons; The global emergence of price-based competitors; Epilogue: the way ahead for low fare airlines; Appendix; Bibliography; Index.