Low Cost Carriers: Emergence, Expansion and Evolution

Low cost carriers (LCCs) represent one of the most exciting and dynamic yet often contentious developments in recent commercial aviation history. Formed as a direct result of policies of airline deregulation and liberalisation that were initiated in the United States in the late 1970s before being implemented in certain European, Australasian, Latin American and other world markets from the mid-1990s onwards to encourage competition, LCCs have been responsible for progressively reconfiguring the spatial patterns, operational practices and passenger experiences of flight. In the process, they have enabled growing numbers of people to fly to more places, more frequently, and at lower cost than had been previously possible. In so doing, however, they have generated a number of socio-economic and environmental challenges. The 23 essays included in this volume provide a detailed insight into the emergence, expansion and evolution of the low cost carrier sector worldwide. The volume covers deregulation and liberalisation of the global airline sector, the business models and operating characteristics of low cost carriers, the changing nature of the airline/airport relationship, LCC network characteristics, issues of pricing and competition and the current impacts and likely future trajectories.

Table of Contents:
Contents: Introduction. Part I Deregulation and Liberalization: The evolution of US airline competition, Severin Borenstein; Governing the skies: conditions for the Europeanisation of airline policy, Thomas C. Lawton; Low-cost carriers in Asia: deregulation, regional liberalization and secondary airports, Anming Zhang, Shinya Hanaoka, Hajime Inamura and Tomoki Ishikura. Part II Business Models and Operating Characteristics: Impact of the adherence to the original low-cost model on the profitability of low-cost airlines, Fariba Alamdari and Simon Fagan; An empirical model of low-cost carrier entry, Alessandro V.M. Oliveira; Where next for low cost airlines? A spatial and temporal comparative study, Graham Francis, Ian Humphreys, Stephen Ison and Michelle Aicken. Part III The Airline-Airport Relationship: Low-cost airlines and airport competition, Eric Pels, Nenad Njegovan and Christiaan Behrens; How do the demands for airport services differ between full-service carriers and low-cost carriers?, Sean D. Barrett; Competitive advantage of low-cost carriers: some implications for airports, David Gillen and Ashish Lall; Airports’ perspectives on the growth of low-cost airlines and the remodeling of the airport-airline relationship, Graham Francis, Ian Humphreys and Stephen Ison; Low-cost airports for low-cost airlines: flexible design to manage the risks, Richard de Neufville. Part IV Network Characteristics: The geography of deregulation in the US airline industry, Andrew R. Goetz and Christopher J. Sutton; An analysis of European low-cost airlines and their networks, Frédéric Dobruszkes; The impact of low-cost carriers on airport and route competition, Martin Dresner, Jiun-Sheng Chris Lin and Robert Windle. Part V Pricing and Competition: Low-cost airlines and online price dispersion, Enrico Bachis and Claudio A. Piga; Bundling, integration and the delivered price of air travel: are low cost carriers full service competitors?, David Gillen and William Morrison; The propensity of business travellers to use low cost airlines, Keith J. Mason; Price discrimination strategies of low-cost carriers, Carlos F. Alves and Cristina Barbot; Competitive responses to low cost carrier entry, Robert Windle and Martin Dresner. Part VI Impacts and Implications for the Future: End of the free lunch? The responses of traditional European airlines to the low-cost carrier threat, Nigel Dennis; Carriers within carriers: a strategic response to low-cost airline competition, Brian Graham and Timothy M. Vowles; The transferability of the low-cost model to long-haul airline operations, Graham Francis, Nigel Dennis, Stephen Ison and Ian Humphreys; The growth limits of the low cost carrier model, Jaap G. de Wit and Joost Zuidberg. Name index.

About the Author :
Lucy Budd is Senior Lecturer in Air Transport and Stephen Ison is Professor of Transport Policy in the Transport Studies Group in the School of Civil and Building Engineering at Loughborough University, UK.