4 stars
- Air France
- Austrian Airlines
- British Airways
- Finnair
- Lufthansa
- Swiss
- Turkish Airlines
3 stars
- Air Berlin
- Alitalia
- Brussels Airlines
- Edelweiss
- Iberia Airlines
- KLM
- Virgin Atlantic
White-tailed Eagle
Europe is a continent of densely spaced countries with relatively smaller populations than other parts of the world. However, some countries in Europe are highly industrialised and are described as “developed” or First World. Developed nations tend to have a far more extensive and technologically advanced system of transport, both public and private, than other countries, and this level of development in transport includes air travel. Domestically, Europe is well serviced by airlines.
The fact that so many countries in Europe each have their own airline shows the level of technological advancement and societal affluence there. These airlines are all international carriers and service many destinations between them. Most of them are also members of the international airline alliances, which may give passengers access to even more routes than an airline itself covers.
Recent developments in commercial aviation in Europe have been marked by merger deals and bankruptcies. This may be due to the global economic recession, in which the difficulty posed by increasing operating costs is exacerbated by decreasing passenger numbers and passengers choosing to fly in a lower cabin class. Lufthansa, for example, has grown into an enormous organisation that has interests in other airlines. British Airways and Iberia Airlines recently merged, although they continue to fly using their own respective liveries. Ryanair has abandoned Airbus and Boeing as suppliers of aircraft and are now involved in the development of the new COMAC airliner in China, in an effort to cut overhead expenses. The situation in Europe at the moment seems to be one of competition and unremarkable profit margins, which is consistent with an international recession but which is not helped by the surging route and fleet expansion of the airlines in the Middle East.
Red-tailed Hawks
Rivalry between the European and Middle Eastern airlines has caused public disagreement in the past, with the accusation being made against one Middle Eastern airline that it is being unfairly bankrolled by its national government, a claim that has been denied. However, the Middle Eastern airlines are newer than the European ones and seem to have far larger resources of capital available to invest in new aircraft and expansion projects, while the European airlines are older and have more established reputations, but the Middle Eastern airlines are respected for the standard of service that they provide. The airlines in Europe also have higher operating costs than those in the Middle East.
The other rivals of the European airlines are based on the other side of the Atlantic, in the form of the major USA airlines. But there are two factors that make the USA airlines less of a threat to airlines in Europe. Firstly, the USA airlines do not have a substantial share in the domestic market in Europe (and neither do the Middle Eastern airlines). The other issue is that of quality. There is no major airline in the USA that has been rated with more than 3 stars by Skytrax, while Europe has several with 4 stars. Going by ratings, then, Europe surpasses the USA, but they are both surpassed by Asian and Middle Eastern airlines. If airlines in Europe want to match the latter, some of them need to improve their ratings, but this will, once again, probably involve increased operating costs, which are risky in a recession.
Airline safety is important in Europe and as an example of this, the European Union has blacklisted airlines which are not regarded as safe enough to be allowed into Europe. The list of airlines banned from Europe for this reason extends to about 20 pages.
