The development of low-cost air transport: performance, value-creation and employment of air management companies

Over the past three decades in Europe, airline transport has grown up thanks to low-cost airline companies, important players for tourism development. This research concentrates on a sample of Italian airports and related air management companies, which have developed thanks to low-cost air transportation and the change in business model, to analyse the performance of air management companies in the period between 2008-2016 and to evaluate the impact, in terms of value-creation and employment, on the local territory in which they operate. This work focuses on low-cost passengers of a sample of Italian airports in order to evaluate the impact on global turnover of the related air management companies and the turnover of aviation and non-aviation strategic business units. Statistics and data, provided by ENAC (Italian civil aviation authority), and financial statements of selected companies were analysed to measure the overall performance and the impact on the employment rate. This paper represents a multidisciplinary study as the interest towards the development of low-cost airlines has had important consequences and enhanced the relationship with the territory in which the air management company operates. Moreover, it is interesting to study the air transport sector, which is still growing, despite the worldwide financial crisis.