This is the BBC.

Hello and welcome to the programme, and we're talking about the airline business today.

It's been a funny old year for the industry.

It's a deregulated environment, and airlines are forever trying to cut costs in order to keep prices down in a highly competitive sector.

But the sheer difficulties of doing this have come home to bite this year,

manifesting themselves in multiple ways.

Several insolvencies have occurred in recent months,

from Alitalia to, of course, Monarch Airlines more recently.

Ryanair has hit pilot problems as it's fumbled its holiday rostering and antagonised its staff.

BA has been criticised for making passengers pay for snacks on short haul flights.

And even the ridiculous United Airlines crisis of the passenger being dragged off a plane

could be seen as an example of an airline trying to make sure every seat was full by overbooking

the plane, all in order to keep the average cost per passenger low. So today we're going to ask where

the airline industry is going. We'll take stock of the problems the industry faces, especially,

I think, in that short-haul sector, which is where Monarch was operating before it folded.

And I've got three guests this week who should know all about the industry.

And first up is Peter Duffy, who's chief commercial officer of EasyJet.

And what does your job entail, Peter?

All things customer, Evan.

So I'm responsible for everything from the ticket price they pay through to the experience they have on the airline through to the digital services they use on a day to day basis.

Now we think of EasyJet as a low-cost airline, perhaps competing head on with Ryanair.

There are some differences, aren't there? It feels like the market position is a bit different.

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