Low-cost carrier
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Boeing 737-700 of UK low cost carrier easyJet waiting for take off at Bristol |
A
low-cost carrier or
low cost airline (also known as a
no-frills or
discount carrier / airline) is an
airline that offers generally low fares in exchange for eliminating many traditional passenger services. The concept originated in the
United States before spreading to
Europe in the early 1990s and subsequently to much of the rest of the world. The term originated within the airline industry referring to airlines with a low - or lower - operating cost structure than their competitors. Through popular media the term has since come to define any carrier with low ticket prices and limited services regardless of their operating costs.
Typical low-cost carrier
business model practices include:
* a single passenger class
* a single type of
airplane, commonly the
Airbus A320 or
Boeing 737 (reducing training and servicing costs) except for
Song (airline) Boeing 757 and
Kingfisher Airlines order of the
A380.
* a simple fare scheme (typically fares increase as the plane fills up, which rewards early reservations)
* unreserved seating (encouraging passengers to board early and quickly)
* flying to cheaper, less congested secondary
airports (avoiding air traffic delays and taking advantage of lower landing fees)
* short flights and fast turnaround times (allowing maximum utilization of planes)
* simplified routes, emphasizing point-to-point transit instead of transfers at hubs (again enhancing aircraft utilization and eliminating disruption due to delayed passengers or luggage missing connecting flights)
* emphasis on direct sales of tickets, especially over the Internet (avoiding fees and commissions paid to
travel agents and
Computer Reservations Systems)
* employees working in multiple roles, for instance flight attendants also cleaning the aircraft or working as gate agents (limiting personnel costs)
* "Free" in-flight catering and other "complimentary" services are eliminated, and replaced by optional paid-for in-flight food and drink (which represent an additional profit source for the airline).
* Aggressive
fuel hedging programs.
* "Unbundling" of ancillary charges (showing airport fees, taxes as separate charges rather than as part of the advertised fare) to make the "headline fare" appear lower.
* Low or lower operating costs relative to their competitors.
Not every low-cost carrier implements all of the above points (for example, some try to differentiate themselves with allocated seating, while others operate more than one aircraft type, still others will have realitively high operating costs but lower fares). Nonetheless these are general characteristics, most of which apply to any given low-cost carrier.
Particular characteristics of the United States market
The principal area of competition tends to be the full-coach or "walk-up" fare. Advance purchase fares tend to be competitive with
major carriers but not significantly lower. Most successful LCCs try to offer a modicum of additional benefits, such as better on-time performance or more leg room.
AirTran Airways has been very successful with its low-fare Business Class, while
Frontier and
JetBlue offer live in-flight television.
The first successful low-cost carrier was
Pacific Southwest Airlines in the
United States, which pioneered the concept when their first flight took place on
May 6,
1949. Often, this credit has been incorrectly given to
Southwest Airlines which began service in 1971 and has been profitable every year since 1973. With the advent of aviation
deregulation the model spread to
Europe as well, the most notable successes being
Ireland's
Ryanair, which began low-fares operations in 1991, and
easyJet, formed in 1995. As of 2004, a wave of low cost carriers developed in
Australasia, led by operators such as
Malaysia's
Air Asia, and
Australia's
Virgin Blue. The low-cost carrier model is applicable worldwide, although deregulated markets are most suited for its rapid spread. In 2006, new LCCs were announced in
Saudi Arabia and
Mexico.
Low-cost carriers pose a serious threat to traditional "full service" airlines, since the high cost structure of full-service carriers prevents them from competing effectively on price - the most important factor among most consumers when selecting a carrier. From 2001 to 2003, when the aviation industry was rocked by
terrorism,
war and
SARS, the large majority of traditional airlines suffered heavy losses while low-cost carriers generally stayed profitable.
Many carriers opted to launch their own no-frills airlines, such as
KLM's
Buzz,
British Airways'
Go, and
United's
Ted, but have found it difficult to avoid cannibalizing their core business. Exceptions to this have been
bmi's
bmibaby,
Scandinavian Airlines System's Snowflake,
germanwings which is controlled 49% by
Lufthansa and
Qantas's
Jetstar all of which successfully operate alongside their full-service counterparts.
For holiday destinations, low cost airlines also compete with seat-only charter sales. However, the inflexibility of charters (particularly as regards length of stay) makes them unpopular with many travellers.
The entry of new nations into the
European Union from
Eastern Europe and moves towards compliance with EU legislation by those who have not yet joined, has led to an extension of
open skies arrangements. This has led to the establishment of low-cost routes by existing and new operators such as
Wizz Air. From 2004 to 2006 routes have been established into
Bulgaria,
Slovenia,
Poland,
Hungary and the
Czech Republic. Low cost airlines are also now starting to fly into
Turkey.
In
Canada,
Air Canada has found it difficult to compete with new low-cost rivals such as
Westjet,
Canjet, and
Jetsgo despite its previously dominant position in the market:
Air Canada entered a period of
bankruptcy protection in 2003, but emerged from protection in September 2004. Air Canada operated two low-fare subsidiaries,
Tango and
Zip, but both were discontinued. (Jetsgo itself ceased operations on
March 11 2005.)
India's first low-cost airline,
Air Deccan started service on
August 25,
2003. The airline's fares for the
Delhi-
Bangalore route were 30% less than those offered by its rivals such as
Indian Airlines,
Air Sahara and
Jet Airways on the same route. The success of Air Deccan has spurred the entry of more than a dozen low-cost airlines in India. Air Deccan now faces stiff competition from other low-cost Indian carriers such as
Kingfisher Airlines,
SpiceJet,
GoAir and
Paramount Airways.
IndiGo Airlines recently placed an order for 100
Airbus A320s worth 6 billion
USD during the
Paris Air Show, the highest by any Asian domestic carrier.
In
Finland the competition went in a different direction, as the national carrier
Finnair lowered prices so that the low-cost competitor
Flying Finn was forced to cease its operations. Three months after Flying Finn's bankruptcy, the other operator
Blue1 began flights to three of Flying Finn's most profitable destinations.
In
Norway the first low cost carrier was
ColorAir in 1998. Their low prices were matched by competitors
SAS and
Braathens, and
Color Air folded in 1999. The next low cost carrier,
Norwegian Air Shuttle (or
Norwegian), starting their
Boeing 737 operations in September 2002, provided tougher competition for the merged Norwegian part of SAS and Braathens. Although Norwegian started with domestic routes, today their international operations are larger than their domestic service. By launching nonstop flights from cities like
Stavanger,
Bergen,
Trondheim in addition to
Oslo, they soon became very popular. Norwegians are amongst the most frequent fliers in the world, mostly due to the geography of the country but also due to the high level of income.
Australia's first low cost airline was
Compass which launched operations in 1990 but was short lived. In 2000
Impulse and
Virgin Blue commenced low cost operations bringing fierce competition to Australian cities. Virgin Blue has become the nation's second largest airline, whilst
Qantas purchased Impulse and operated it in a '' arrangement before transforming it into its new low cost carrier
Jetstar.
Qantas has launched two low cost carriers: JetStar competes with
Virgin Blue in the Australian domestic market, while
Australian Airlines operated internationally to Asian destinations. In 2006 Qantas began operating the Australian Airlines operation in a 'wet leasing' arrangement which essentially means Australian Airlines crew and aircraft operate services under the Qantas brand. As at 2006, Qantas intends to continue developing a sole low-cost brand around Jetstar which will include international destinations.
In 1995,
Air New Zealand established a low-fare subsidiary,
Freedom Air, in response to the commencement of discount trans-
tasman services by the upstart
Kiwi Airlines. Fierce competition on trans-Tasman routes lead to the collapse of Kiwi Airlines in 1996. Freedom Air continues to provide discount services between Australia and
New Zealand. Wholly owned Qantas subsidiary
Jetconnect was set up as a low cost New Zealand arm of Qantas, with Jetconnect operating all New Zealand domestic services and several trans tasman services in a 'wet leasing' arrangement, using the Qantas brand. Qantas has also launched trans-Tasman Jetstar flights .
On
May 5 2004, Singapore's first low-cost carrier,
Valuair was launched, prompting dominant carrier
Singapore Airlines to invest in a new low-cost startup,
Tiger Airways, to beat the competition. Not to be outdone,
Singapore Changi Airport's second most dominant carrier,
Qantas Airways, also started its Asian offshoot,
Jetstar Asia Airways based in
Singapore and commencing operations on
December 13 2004.
Malaysia's
Air Asia made repeated attempts to set up a Singaporean operation, but its insistence in using
Seletar Airport, in addition to other demands to cut airport usage charges, delayed its abilities in gaining the relevant permits from the authorities in Singapore. This set-back may block Air Asia's Singapore expansion ambitions. In July 2005, the owners of Jetstar Asia took over Valuair and are merging the two carriers. In contrast with Air Asia, none of the Singaporean low-cost carriers are yet profitable.
As the number of low-cost carriers has grown, these airlines have begun to compete with one another in addition to the traditional carriers. In the US, airlines have responded by introducing variations to the model.
America West Airlines, now a part of the
US Airways Group, offers a first class product, for example, while
JetBlue Airways advertises satellite television. In Europe, the emphasis has remained on reducing costs and no-frills service. In 2004, Ryanair announced proposals to eliminate reclining seats, window blinds, seat headrest covers, and seat pockets from its aircraft.
The first airline offering no-frills transatlantic service was
Freddie Laker's
Laker Airways, which operated its famous "Skytrain" service between
London and
New York City during the late 1970s. The service was suspended after Laker's competitors,
British Airways and
Pan Am, were able to price Skytrain out of the market.
In 2004 the Irish company
Aer Lingus lowered its prices to compete with companies such as
Ryanair and also started offering no-frills
transatlantic flights for just above €100. Late in 2004 the Canadian airline
Zoom Airlines also started selling transatlantic flights between Glasgow, UK; Manchester, UK; and Canada for £89.
It has been suggested that an extended version of the
Airbus A380, able to hold up to 780 passengers [
1], would enable true low-cost long-haul service. While the per-seat costs of such an aircraft would be lower than the competition, there are fewer cost savings possible in a long-haul operation and therefore a long-haul low-cost operator would find it harder to differentiate itself from a conventional airline. In particular, low-cost carriers typically fly their aircraft for more hours and flights each day, scheduling the first departure early in the morning and the last arrival late at night. However, long-haul aircraft scheduling is more determined by timezone constraints (e.g. leaving the US East Coast in the evening and arriving in Europe the following morning), and the longer flight times mean there is less scope to increase aircraft utilization by adding one or two more short flights each day.
The industry magazine
Airline Business recently analysed the potential for low-cost long-haul service [
2] and concluded that a number of Asian carriers are closest to making such a model work.
In August 2006,
Zoom Airlines announced that it was to establish a UK subsidiary, probably based at
Gatwick Airport, to offer low-cost long-haul flights to the
USA and
India.
Air transport has been accused of contributing to global warming through the high carbon emissions of aircraft. Although the airline industry accounts for a relatively low percentage of emissions, this is growing rapidly, and in Europe at least, this growth is principally due to the expansion of the low-cost carriers' operations. There has been discussion of the possibility of imposing additional taxes on airline tickets or on aviation fuel[
3], something which would particularly impact low-cost carriers' more price-sensitive customer bases and could severely impair their business model[
4]. It should be noted that in most countries, and in accordance with the provisions of the
Chicago Convention, aviation turbine fuel is not taxed.
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*
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