Where next for low cost airlines? A spatial and temporal comparative study

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the international development of the low cost airline model. The paper examines and seeksto characterize the factors which have encouraged and inhibited the spatial and temporal spread of low cost carriers. A typology oflow cost carriers is developed to illustrate the diversity of practices identiWable under the generic low cost banner. The authors of thispaper identify stages of development with respect to time and compare the development of low cost operations in diVerent countriesof the world. The economic and political impacts of the spread of the low cost model are examined and the sustainability and futurepatterns of growth considered.