The International Herald Tribune writes about how European low-cost airlines "are drawing a new map of how people and money travel in Europe". An example:
Andrzej Majewski, a Pole who works as a thoracic surgeon in Britain, catches a ride to the airport in Wroclaw on Sundays and hops a Ryanair flight to his hospital in Nottingham, England. Most Fridays he commutes home to southwest Poland. The flights cost him about $50 each way. "It takes about three hours, and I'm eating lunch at my house," Majewski said.
The article also mentions the impact of low-cost airlines on medical tourism, giving an example of how Europeans seek less expensive health care in Malta, Poland and Spain.
"The low-cost airlines really facilitate a type of hypermobility for the public at large to do anything from leisure to business, to new careers", Steven Vertovec, a professor of transnational anthropology at Oxford University comments.
But not everyone is happy with Europeans' mobility. People in countries served by budget airlines complain that British bachelor and bachelorette parties are taking over Eastern European cities like Riga.
"I know about guys who go to Prague for a weekend of cheap beer, prostitutes and fighting. "People there really complain about it — and that's due to low-cost airline", Vertovec says.
>> Full Article @ IHT hereThe similar impact of low-cost air travel can be felt in Asia as well. A lot of people are starting to fly for weekend trips. Philippino overseas workers can visit home more often. Private hospitals in Thailand should see an increase in patients coming from other countries in the region as well.
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