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Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.

He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.

In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.

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Low-cost European airlines have been changing the course of the airline history in and above the continent. The "no-frills" companies, as they are known, such as British EasyJet and Irish Ryanair have made middle-destination travel by air as easy and cheap as traveling by bus the same distance. Looking at their strong growth, experts are discussing prices, trends, and how they could influence the other supporting businesses. Until now there was no study focusing on the consequences of the budget airlines' industry on the general social wellbeing.

First considered a joke or nothing more than a fad, low-cost airlines have entered the European market and still withstand the competition forces. More than that, growing by 100% a year, these companies now represent almost 10% of the market on the continent, hoping to increase their share to 25% by 2010. More and more budget companies have been born in the recent months from Scotland in the west to Slovakia in the east. Their most important weapon is low price, starting from as low as $15-20 for a single flight. Their goal is to become for the transport industry what the fast-foods chains have been for urban life since the mid 20th century.

The number of persons flying in Europe has grown by 300% in the last 20 years and is expected to grow by another 300% by 2030. The main reason for this spectacular growth was and will be the lowering of the prices, also due to the budget companies and their charm.

How low costs could affect life on earth

Let's take an average middle-class person, a certain Mr. "X", living in a suburb and traveling every day to his workplace in the downtown Paris or London or some other major city. Using his vehicle and/or public transport, this trip may take him 2-3 hours a day. If he decides to choose a cheaper property far outside the city, he has several options to consider. He could do it by adding more hours for his daily trips, or if he wants to save time, he would be obliged to spend much more money using conventional airlines with their expensive tickets.

Now let's consider that he has a third option to travel from his remote (100-200+ miles) village to the city for the price of a usual bus or a train shuttle - the same price but with much less time spent on traveling. Or to put it otherwise, he will spend the same amount of time traveling per day (2-3 hours), but his house will cost him twice or three times less. This option is worth considering.

Instead of or alongside the huge parking spaces at the subway and/or the train terminals, small regional airports will be built. As a result, many new areas around the major cities will be put under residential development.

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