ABSTRACT
The market for LCCs is a new and dynamically evolving phenomenon in Europe and specially in Germany. A glimpse at the European LCC market reveals, that not all LCCs are doing the same. In the light of Porter’s strategic framework of cost leadership, differentiation and focus we define the LCC market and point out its competitive relations to the traditional market segments. We describe the fundamentals of the LCC business model and analyze the possibilities to deviate from it guided by some general rules of thumb. After these theoretical considerations we will present the strategy of Germanwings as a real life example for the strategic positioning of a LCC. Our analysis shows that the LCC market will further split up into a leisure and a business segment – demanding the pure low cost business model or allowing for specific deviations by setting a strategic focus respectively.
