Anatomy of a budget flight

[Buzz]

I found this on the site of Guardian Unlimited:

The cost of a single flight

£542: Groundhandling charges
This is the cost of check-in staff, the luggage handlers and the people who refuel the plane. These staff usually work for an outside agency. Only at Luton and Geneva airports are the check-in staff employed directly by EasyJet

£817: Airport charges
These are paid per passenger. At Luton, the rate is £5.50 per passenger

£101: Credit card charges
Charges made by the credit card company for passengers booking online - more than 90% of EasyJet and Ryanair customers do so. For those that book by phone, there is a 95p-per-booking incentive payment to the call centre staff and that cost is also included here

£728: Administration
The main items are the lease on the head office, IT costs and the salaries of the management and operational staff. There is also a small element to cover refunds etc. This is the key area where low-cost carriers aim to beat British Airways and its peers by extending the lowcost mentality to the head office

£614: Fuel
Fuel prices can move sharply - for example, the oil price rose steadily in the build-up to the war in Iraq. There is also a currency risk: airline fuel is bought in dollars, whereas most of EasyJet's passengers are paying in sterling and euros. But at the moment, there is little to worry about: oil has been comparatively steady for several months and the dollar is weak

£420: Navigation
Part of this goes to the air-traffic control tower at the airport at each end. The rest goes to the national air-traffic control organisation for the countries that the plane flies over

£215: Advertising
In EasyJet's case, it is mostly newspapers, billboards, bus shelters and the tube

£676: Cost of the aircraft
Almost all of EasyJet's planes are on long leasehold arrangements with financing companies such as GE Capital. Prices have fallen sharply in recent years because there are a few hundred mothballed in the deserts of California. Also included here is the small amount that EasyJet made in interest on its cash at the bank

£251: Tax
Like every company that makes profits, EasyJet pays tax to the Treasury

£643: Crew salaries and training
The captain earns about £80k a year; the first officer £50-55k; the senior crew member about £17k; and two junior crew about £14k each

£584: Maintenance and servicing
Including the cost of owning spare engines and parts

How it adds up

Ticket sales: £6,136
Outgoings: £5,591
Profit: £545


the rest of the article can be read on
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,36 ... 37,00.html

Greetz
Jan