The big three EU Low Cost Carriers before and during the Covid-19 pandemic: Network overlaps and airfare effects
Date Issued
2022
Abstract
This study uses a large dataset to consider the network change of the three largest European Low Cost Carriers (LCCs) easyJet, Ryanair and Wizz Air during the pre-Covid-19 period and the Covid-19 pandemic period. Network changes are characterized in terms of airport pairs, city pairs, numbers of flights and network overlaps. The results show that European LCCs increasingly expanded their networks into markets that had already been served by incumbent LCCs, which indicates that LCCs increasingly compete head-to-head among themselves. Difference-in-differences regressions estimate that network overlaps among these LCCs lead to airfare reductions of approximately six Euros, ten percent.
Subjects
Covid-19
;
Europe
;
low cost carriers
;
network overlaps
;
airfares
Institution
Type
journal article
Journal/Edited collection
Start page
101235
Language
English