Today -twenty years after the son of a shipping tycoon took on British Airways with two rented planes -Stelios's airline is a multi-billion pound company and a household name. This is the inside story of the spectacular rise of easyJet. Did the airline really buy its uniforms from a Benetton store? What was secretly stashed in the toilets at easyLand? Why was Aberdeen airport littered with half-bottles of cheap whisky? The answers to these questions and more are contained in this blow-by-blow account of how an orange start-up began its journey to becoming one of the world's most successful airlines.

In the summer of 1995 a start-up company led by the son of a Greek shipping tycoon, took up residence in an orange painted tin shack next to the runway at Luton airport. Initially dismissed by British Airways as "a peanut airline," easyJet became one of the most successful start-ups in UK corporate history and a household name. Now fully revised and updated, this book is the definitive insider account of the rise of easyJet. Laced with first-hand anecdotes, the lessons of this engaging, entertaining and informative tale are as relevant today as they were when generation easyJet was conceived.

A compelling new history of the EU and the people who sought to shape and challenge it--from Maastricht to today The European Union is the most ambitious, and one of the most contentious, international organizations ever created. Decisions made in Brussels shape the lives of over 500 million Europeans, and its laws and policies resonate around the world. But how has the EU endured over three turbulent decades marred by crises at home and abroad? In this major account, Dermot Hodson traces the development of the EU from its establishment in 1993 through to Brexit, Covid-19, and the invasion of Ukraine. Hodson shows how the union has been held together not by faceless technocrats but national leaders who stood together in times of turmoil despite a fierce backlash from a new generation of right-wing populists. Circle of Stars offers a rich appraisal of Europe's troubled past and turbulent present--focusing on the people who built the EU as we know it today.

Low-Cost Airline Carriers in Emerging Countries traces the development of low-cost carriers (LCCs) in Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, examining airlines that have become significant players in their home markets but little known at a global scale. The book maps the geography of the LCC phenomenon, explaining the starkly varying success of budget airlines, and assessing their current social, economic and environmental impacts. The book concludes with insights into the future potential of the LCC phenomenon along with its global ramifications. Beginning with Southwest Airlines in the 1970s, low-cost carriers (LCCs) have democratized air travel around the world, fostering huge increases in airline traffic and transforming the airline industry. At the same time however, the ascent of these budget airlines has exacerbated aviation-related problems such as aircraft noise, airport congestion, greenhouse gas emissions and more. LCCs have been extensively studied in the US and Europe but not in emerging regions of the globe. Yet the impact of such airlines is greatest in low- and middle-income economies where only a small fraction of the population has ever flown, and where competition from alternative modes (road, rail) is weak.

In September 2014, a Chinese company that most Americans had never heard of held the largest IPO in history – bigger than Google, Facebook and Twitter combined. Alibaba, now the world's largest e-commerce company, mostly escaped Western notice for over ten years, while building a customer base more than twice the size of Amazon's, and handling the bulk of e-commerce transactions in China. How did it happen? And what was it like to be along for such a revolutionary ride? In Alibaba's World, author Porter Erisman, one of Alibaba's first Western employees and its head of international marketing from 2000 to 2008, shows how Jack Ma, a Chinese schoolteacher who twice failed his college entrance exams, rose from obscurity to found Alibaba and lead it from struggling startup to the world's most dominant e-commerce player. He shares stories of weathering the dotcom crash, facing down eBay and Google, negotiating with the unpredictable Chinese government, and enduring the misguided advice of foreign experts, all to build the behemoth that's poised to sweep the ecommerce world today. And he analyzes Alibaba's role as a harbinger of the new global business landscape—with its focus on the East rather than the West, emerging markets over developed ones, and the nimble entrepreneur over the industry titan. As we face this near future, the story of Alibaba—and its inevitable descendants—is both essential and instructive.

Tony Anderson set out in the summer of 1998 to walk through Georgia. He wanted particularly to visit the Georgian mountain tribes - Tush, Khevsurs, Ratchuelians and Svans - to discover if they shared a common mountain culture, and to test the old idea of the Caucasus as an impenetrable barrier from sea to sea. From Azerbaijan to Svaneti, Anderson found communities where the old customs and beliefs still triumphantly survive, despite years of Communist oppression and the terrible uncertainties since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Throughout his journey Anderson refers back to many other visits to Georgia, to the politics of independence, to the war in Abkhazia and Ossetia, to the civil war and Shevardnadze's accession to power, to the history of these people at one of the great crossroads of the world. It remains an abiding mystery that Georgia has managed to survive at all, devastated time and again by the vagabond hordes from the steppes and torn between the mighty empires that struggled over it. But survive it has with a vibrant culture still intact and, in the mountains, still deeply connected to its ancient ways.

Aviation is one of the most widely talked about industries in the global economy and yet airlines continue to present an enigma. Between 2010 and 2018 the global airline industry experienced its longest period of sustained profitability; however, huge global profits hid a darker side. Many airlines made inadequate profits or serious losses while others collapsed entirely. This fifth edition of Flying Off Course explains why. Written by leading industry expert, Rigas Doganis, this book is an indispensable guide to the inner workings of this exciting industry. Providing a complete, practical introduction to the fundamentals of airline economics and marketing, it explores the structure of the market, the nature of airline costs, issues around pricing and demand, and the latest developments in e-commerce. Vibrant examples are drawn from passenger, charter and freight airlines to provide a dynamic view of the entire industry. This completely updated edition also explores the sweeping changes that have affected airlines in recent years. It includes much new material on airline alliances, long-haul low-cost airlines, new pricing policies and ancillary revenues in order to present a compelling account of the current state of the airline industry. Offering a practical approach and peppered with real examples, this book will be valuable to anyone new to the airline industry as well as those wishing to gain a wider insight into its operations and economics. For undergraduate or postgraduate students in transport studies, tourism and business the book provides a unique insider's view into the workings of this exciting industry.