Last modified: 2017-03-31
Abstract
Low-cost airlines have been in business for some years now and are growing even more rapidly. It was the company South-West Airlines that was the first to start with a new form of services; providing less services but offering cheaper prices to its customers. Becoming a successful competitor on the air transportation market in the US, South-West Airlines settled the basics for what nowadays is called the low-cost airline. This so called South-West model has been an example for low-cost operations and is often referred to as “The low-cost model”. This research will focus on the concept of low-cost carriers model and its relation to Tourism Industry. The researcher carried out with the aim of identifying if, and how, low-cost airline services have their effects on Tourism Industry. The paper presents strategies adopted by Low Cost Carriers (LCC), which results in Low-cost airlines have set new trends in the travel market and induced air travel demands without competition with established airlines. The researcher uses descriptive method, existing studies, research, reports and data. Furthermore, The case studies illustrated that low-cost services attract passengers from larger distances and therewith have a more spread out effect to the greater region instead of what is often expected to be to the benefit for the locality. That is also why the trend and travel behaviour changed. Then, explanations for the differences in Low Cost Carriers impact on airports were suggested. Finally, a few directions are discussed on how to handle the phenomenon and what the future might hold for this concept.