Competitive advantages and disadvantages of low cost airlines An exploratory study at Faro International Airport

摘要

Low cost carriers have appeared in the air transportation industry sellingrnundifferentiated products without frills. Despite the success of this strategy in loweringrnthe prices of the flights, it is not known to what extent the passengers perceive thisrnstrategy as a competitive and sustainable one, which is the main aim of this paper. Thernstudy used a sample of 3000 passengers who were travelling with the major well-knownrnlow cost carriers (LCC) and a full service Portuguese airline operating at FarornInternational Airport, which serves the main tourism destination in Portugal-thernAlgarve. According to the objectives of the article, correspondence analyses were usedrnto identify airline service quality attributes that present competitive advantages andrndisadvantages for each of the six main LCC and the Portuguese airline operating in thernAlgarve, from a demand perspective. It is suggested that LCCs, in fact, arerndifferentiated in the market; their competitive advantages are recognised as a function ofrnservice attributes, which also allow derivation of their overall competitive positioning.rnThe main conclusion is that, despite the success of LCC airlines, some frills need to bernadded to the airline service to attain a sustainable competitive advantage.