ELFAA says European legacy carriers view LCCs primarily as a defensive tool

ELFAA secretary general John Hanlon, speaking at the CAPA World Aviation Summit 2015, said (08-Oct-2015) that legacy carriers looking at replicating the low cost long-haul subsidiary models used in the Asia Pacific would require a shift to a different mindset. According to Mr Hanlon, European legacy carriers view LCCs primarily as a defensive tool. It is "quite difficult" to imaging incumbent European legacy carriers setting up low cost long-haul subsidiary carriers and it is easier to start up as a low cost than to transform from a legacy operation into a low cost operation.