Brussels, 25/01/2008 (Agence Europe) - A study from the EP Policy Department Structural and Cohesion Policies, presented on Tuesday 22 January to the EP transport committee states that low-cost airlines have had a considerable impact on certain air transport markets but that the magnitude and nature of this impact are generally of a regional kind.
The report - on the consequences of growth in the low-cost airline sector in Europe - stresses that the influence of low-cost companies is generally positive, especially for the regions from which these companies have decided to operate (development of tourism, visibility of regions concerned, jobs, accessibility, mobility). The authors of the report also state that, because of the diversification of the offers, development of this kind of company has not generated losses for the traditional airline “hubs” and has not entailed significant reductions in the number of passengers using regular airlines. According to the report, the development of low-cost airline companies has caused the general number of passengers to increase instead of causing a shift of passengers from traditional airlines to low-cost operators. The later development of low-cost traffic could, however, considerably amplify the intramodal tendency (evolution of certain traditional carriers towards the low-cost company approach for short haul flights or the convergence of strategies for flights lasting more than six hours) and intermodal modes of transport, in particular, high speed train transport. The whole of the report may be consulted at: http://www.airportregions.org (A.By.)