ABSTRACT
Charter airlines in the past were always able to carry their passengers at significantly lower unit costs than scheduled carriers. The emergence of low-cost scheduled carriers, however, has radically altered this situation and produced major challenges for the charter operators (Williams, 2001). The operating costs of charter airlines and low-cost carriers are little different when adjusted for stage length and aircraft size. The greater flexibility offered to the traveller by low-cost scheduled carriers has seen the demise of many short haul charter services. More recently, low-cost operators have been turning their attentions to charter sectors of more than three hours. Charter airlines have responded to the decline in their traditional markets in different ways, some opting to reduce their shorter haul operations to concentrate on developing longer haul markets, while others have sought to emulate the low-cost scheduled business model either by introducing scheduled services along side their charter activities or by establishing scheduled subsidiaries (Williams, 2008). Not all of these latter strategic responses have proved to be successful, which has resulted in the disappearance of some wellknown charter airlines.
