[jmulvi]

This (ridiculously cheap air travel for short city breaks) is more of an issue in Europe than in the US. In America air travel is still, comparatively expensive. In Europe there is much more competition among airlines to serve the super cheap <$10 flights. The US is also much more spread out. I can fly to 50-100 European cities from London in under 2 hours - from LA I have fewer than five options and the prices will be 10x what Ryanair or Easyjet charge.

[niftich]

I know these budget airlines charge fees for every single 'amenity' in the very broad definition of the word, but I've always wondered about the economics of these very, very low-priced tickets you see in Europe.

[disgruntledphd2]

Small airports make it work. Ryanair's model is to make small airports dependent on them, and threaten them evermore to make sure that its as cheap as possible for them.

Additionally, they were really good at hedging oil prices at good prices. (Except in 2011-12).

Finally, all of the pilots are contractors, as are many of the flight attendents, which reduces the fixed costs associated with the (legally-required) staff.

FR are also willing to kill their own margins to break competitors, which means that competing is hard.

[__derek__]

It's true that U.S. destinations are not at their saturated in the same way, but I did find myself thinking of Times Square, Fisherman's Wharf, and Pike Place Market while reading this.

[djKianoosh]

Brasil is also spread out but their air fares are not as bad as here in the US.