ABSTRACT
It is only a few years back that traditional network carriers in Europe were convinced that low-cost carriers (LCCs) could successfully operate in some niche markets only. Their real development has told another story: LCCs entered the European market in the late 1990s and achieved a market share of about 34 per cent by 2008, while full-service network carriers (FSNCs) provided 58 per cent of seats available at European airports in that year, and charter and regional carriers had a share of almost 5 and 3 per cent respectively (DLR, 2009). These days, FSNCs are thinking about converting their European product into low fare, no-frill services in order not to lose more market share and to compete more successfully with LCCs. Much of the traffic growth in Europe since the year 2000, when air traffic was hit globally by an economic crisis and terrorism, was due to the proliferation of LCCs, while traditional network carriers lost market share and were forced to reduce capacity, both on feeder routes to their hubs as well as on non-hub routes.
