ABSTRACT
This is the first in a series of five chapters dealing with airline issues in the context of leisure travel. In particular, the present chapter focuses on charter services, which are gradually being replaced by scheduled operations in many parts of the world as a result of air transport liberalisation. The same has occurred in Europe, but the sheer scale of the continent's charter market has meant that this remains large. 1 Much of the European charter market involves short to medium distance journeys, with the average sector flown by the larger charter carriers being typically around 2,500 km. Low cost scheduled airlines not surprisingly have taken the opportunity to enter the shorter distanced routes and have been able to capture many of these passengers. The greater flexibility offered to the traveller by low cost airlines particularly in respect of service frequency, their easily accessed fares and their success at convincing customers that they offer the lowest prices have been the key factors in bringing about this transformation (Williams 2001).
