CAA study finds no link between low-cost travel and growth

A study by the UK Civil Aviation Authority concluded that low-cost carriers "have not caused UK-Europe air travel to grow any faster than it would have without them".

The study, based on a survey of 200,000 passengers a year over the past 20 years, was published in the Flight International Magazine. It findings run against the commonly-held notions that low cost is boosting airline travel.

The study, along with previous ones, shows that passenger air travel rises in line with income more closely than with other indicators, and that ticket prices, especially low fares, have a lesser influence than one normally assumed because air fares are a rather small proportion of the total trip cost for almost all business and leisure travellers.

The study showed there is little evidence of any marked change in income and socio-economic profile of the passengers since low-cost carriers entered the market.

The study states that "no frills carriers seem to be able to attract leisure passengers of similar income levels to those flying on full-service airlines, but it seems harder for them to do the same with business passengers".

One of the main reasons is that full-fare carriers serve the major business hubs via primary airports. The study found that business people with lower incomes are travelling in bigger numbers than they did before, suggesting that low-cost carriers may have created an opportunity to travel more.