Episode 167

EPISODE 167
LEVEL A2

READING COMPREHENSION

 

Standing room on airplanes? A possibility!

One of the cost-cutting ideas from budget airlines is for passengers to stand. Michael Ryan, the CEO of Ryanair, was once seriously considering this option. Ryanair is one of Europe’s biggest airlines. Mr. Ryan says his airline is so popular because it is so cheap. Most of Ryanair’s flights are short connections to Europe. This makes the idea of standing for an hour or so on an airplane a bearable one. Ryan said that many people stand for over an hour on a train, so it should be no problem on an airplane. He told reporters he would even be prepared to offer flights for free to passengers who stood. He said he could squeeze in 50 per cent more people and cut costs by 20 per cent. Michael Ryan has changed the way many people think about air travel. His focus is on cutting out unnecessary services and so reducing fares. One idea he is still thinking about is to ask passengers to pay one euro (around a dollar) to use the toilet. He said he could remove two toilets on the board of the airplane and put in extra seats. The extra revenue would reduce costs and therefore the price of airline tickets. He said that asking passengers to pay would encourage them to use the toilets at the airports. Ryan has also talked about a “fat tax” on overweight travelers. His standing room idea, however, might not take off. All airlines must stick to strict international safety standards. Everybody over the age of two must have a seat.

 

Exercise 1

Match the words from the text with their synonyms:

1. latest                    a. thinking about
2 considering         b. obese
3. option                 c. fit
4. connections      d. guidelines
5. squeeze              e. trias
6. focus                   f. most recent
7. fares                    g. income
8. revenue              h. priority
9. overweight         i. idea
10. standards         j. ticket proces

 

Exercise 2

Complete these collocations with the missing words below:
airline / budget / room / safety / seats / services / travel / traveler

1. standing ___________
2. ___________ airlines
3. air ___________
4. unnecessary ___________
5. extra ___________
6. ___________ tickets
7. overweight ___________
8. ___________ standards

 

I know English idioms!

In this lesson’s text we read about travelling. That’s why it would be useful to mention this idiom:

• to travel light (= to bring very few things with you when you go somewhere)
• I like to carry my bags onto the plane so I try to travel light.

Phrasals, phrasals…

A sentence from the text reads: “His standing room idea, however, might not take off”. The phrasal verb that it uses means in this context “to become popular”. But the same verb may have another, more travel-related meaning: “to start” when talking about a plane.

• Our plane couldn’t take off on time because of thick fog in the airport area.

 

Grammar corner

“All airlines must stick to strict international safety standards. Everybody over the age of two must have a seat.” These two sentences from the text use very similar in meaning grammar structures: “all” and “every(body)”. The difference between them is that “all” uses a plural verbs, while “every” singular. Try and complete these sentences with “all“ and “every” and an appropriate verb form:

1. ________ passengers (be) ________ angry because the flight was delayed.
2. ________ passenger (be) ________ angry because the flight was delayed.
3. The airline sold ________ the tickets although they (be) ________ not cheap at all.
4. ________ ticket that the airline sold for that flight (be) ________ rather expensive.

 

GLOSSARY

standing room – miejsca stojące
possibility – możliwość
cost-cutting – cięcie kosztów
budget airline – budżetowa linia lotnicza
seriously – poważnie
consider – rozważać
connection – połączenie
bearable – znośny, do zniesienia
to squeeze – ścisnąć, wcisnąć
to cut out – wyciąć, tu: wyeliminować
unnecessary – zbędny
services – usługi
to reduce – obniżyć
fare – opłata za przejazd
to remove – usunąć
board – pokład
to put in – wstawić
extra – dodatkowy
revenue – przychód
therefore – stąd, dlatego
to encourage – zachęcić
fat tax – „podatek tłuszczowy”
overweight – nadwaga
travelers – podróżnik
to take off – przyjąć się
to stick to – trzymać się
strict – restrykcyjny
safety standards – standardy bezpieczeństwa
seat – siedzenie, miejsce siedzące

 

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