Traditional Versus Low-Cost Airlines' Passengers. A study on Iasi Airport

Due to the liberalization of the aviation market in the European Union, the low-cost carrier (LCC) model has gradually developed in the member states and this type of airlines became a popular alternative to the traditional ones. The aim of this paper is to analyse the major features of the Romanian air travel market and to identify the characteristics of the passengers of both LCCs and traditional airlines, from Iasi Airport. In order to reach this purpose, the research methods consisted in an investigation of the specialized literature, in a statistical analysis of the secondary data and in a comprehensive survey that targeted passengers from Iasi Airport, which travelled on routes served by LCCs, as well as by traditional carriers. In Romania, after the implementation of the 'open skies' agreement, in 2007, the number of the routes operated from/to this state and the number of the airlines' passengers has considerably increased. Among all the Romanian airports, in 2017, Iasi Airport registered the highest increase in the number of transported passengers, being also placed in a top 5 at European level. The findings of our survey reveal that the great majority of the traditional airline's passengers travel for business reasons, frequently or occasionally, and less than one third for leisure purposes (to visit friends or relatives, for tourism and other non-business reasons). Meanwhile, the LCCs' passengers could be classified in three groups: business travellers, leisure passengers with a budget constraint (the largest segment) and leisure travellers without a budget constraint.