ABSTRACT
The commercial air transport market has consistently ebbed and flowed between boom and bust. A renewed focus on the spread between revenue per available seat mile (RASM) and cost per available seat mile (CASM) has yielded positive net returns for the past several years. Network carriers and value airlines (a.k.a. low-cost carriers (LCCs)) have been in a market-share battle for years. Network carriers try to increase their yield per seat while value airlines add new routes and expand their revenue seat miles. No matter the strategy implemented, there is an increase in operating cost that airlines continue to ignore – the administrative, management, and logistics costs associated with widespread “bargain hunting” for materiel in support of flight operations. 1
