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BLFA Round 1: Thomson Fly -vs- EasyJet
August 23rd, 2008 byIt’s the final day of round one, and it’s about to get serious. We’ve got Thomson Fly up against low-fare giants EasyJet. What happened to Air-Southwest you ask? Simple, they’re just not in the same league. Air Southwest has an airline of just 5 aircraft, Thomson Fly is many times more popular. So we’ve decided to use Thomson Fly instead. Who has the greenest credentials? Lets find out.
The Basics:
Thomson Fly
| Founded | 1962 |
| Fleet Size | 47 Aircraft |
| Website | http://www.thomsonfly.com |
| Passengers | 8m (2007) |
| Destinations | 87 |
| MD | Chris Browne |
You might better remember Thomson Fly as Britannia Airways. Thomson Fly traces it’s foundations back to 1962, and was known as Britannia until 2004. Then, like other airlines it repositioned itself into the low-fares market and has been competing there ever since. It’s not the fastest growing airline, but it is popular for being on-time and has expanded significantly in the past few years.
EasyJet
| Founded | 1995 |
| Fleet Size | 165 Aircraft |
| Website | www.easyjet.com |
| Passengers | 37m (2007 |
| Destinations | 103 |
| CEO | Andrew Harrison |
Wasn’t Airline a great program? It’s probably annoying that it did so much to promote EasyJet at the time. EasyJet is Ryanair’s biggest competitor and has remained at the forefront of the low-cost airline movement. Most Recently EasyJet has purchased GO, expanded into Gatwick Airport and plans to move in to Manchester too.
Head to Head
Thomson Fly |
EasyJet |
|
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Carbon Offsetting
|
Despite a raft of bizarre claims, Thomson Fly does not visibly offer any form of carbon offsetting program.
(0) |
EasyJet offers a detailed carbon offsetting program including a carbon calculator for your trip and using UN approved carbon reduction schemes. Of every £1 spent on carbon offsetting, 80p reaches the offsetting project (15p tax, 5p admin)
(1) |
|
Age of Aircrafts
|
Thomson Fly operates 12 Boeing 737s aged 11.4 years, 12 737s Next Gens aged 3.4 years, 15 Boeing 757 aged 14.1 years and 8 Boring 767 aged 10.6 years.
The average age of Thomson Fly’s fleet is 10 years. (0) |
We have a difference of opinion here. EasyJet claim the age of their fleet is 2.3 years, Fleet Age says 3.3. Here’s how airfleets break it down: 104 Airbus 319s aged 2.5 years, 9 A320s aged 5.6 years, 7 A321s aged 2.9 years and 30 Boeing 37 Next Gen aged 5.8 years. With an average of 3.3% or 2.3% they still win, it would just be nice to know which. |
|
Passenger Load
|
Using April 2008 as our benchmark, the CAA reports Thomson Fly’s passenger load as an impressive 85.6%.
Which is impressive. (1) |
For April 2008, EasyJet’s passenger load was a slightly lower 78.8%. It’s probably higher during summer mind. (0) |
|
Green Initiatives
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Thomson Fly’s Green Initiatives are a mish-mash of bad judgement.
(0) |
Sure you can always fault a company for never doing enough when it comes to green flying, but EasyJet certainly tackle it better than others. EasyJet have an extensive environmental code. Tackling problems in the air and on the ground. They are also outspoken against the problems in the industry.
(1) |
|
Locations & Destinations |
There is good and bad here. The good if that Thomson Fly does use a good range of regional airports in Great Britain. The bad is that these bases typically fly to second-tier airports requiring to take additional transport to reach their destinations.
(0) |
Whilst EasyJet do tend to use the busier UK airports (though they thankfully skip Heathrow), they tend to be a point-to-point airline. This means customers reach their destination outright.
(1) |
| |
Thomson Fly: 1 |
EasyJet: 4 |
So, perhaps it isn’t a great surprise that EasyJet have come through here. Becoming the more environmentally-aware airline of the two big ones is a natural step for EasyJet to take. It will now be interesting to see just how far the airline can go in this competition.
They will be next up against Monarch this coming Thursday.
Catch up on what you’ve missed so far:
BLFA Round One: BMI Baby 1 – 4 Monarch
BLFA Round One: Aer Lingus 2 – 3 Flybe
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