No Frills – The Truth Behind The Low-Cost Revolution In The Skies

Simon Calder (Virgin Books, 2002)

Anyone following the legal labyrinth which Air New Zealand and Qantas have faced in their bid to gain merger approval will be aware of the unique and sometimes baffling world of commercial aviation law.

In Calder’s fascinating history of no-frills airlines, the reader learns how it has been marketers who have invariably enabled airlines and certain routes to be launched, through an ongoing pattern of ‘thinking outside the square’ in the need to out-maneuver the sometimes unbelievable barriers set up by conservative, self-serving legislators and competitors. Whilst New Zealand’s Freedom Air doesn’t feature, one of the local airline’s founders, ex-Air New Zealand planner Ray Webster, is prominently featured in regards to his work at EasyJet.

Jonathan Dodd