The significance of low-cost carriers in aviation industry and their impact on national economic advancements

Gökhan DÖLEK MASTER THESIS Advisor Prof. Dr. Mazlum ÇELİK Providing services to 8 billion world population in today's aviation sector; There are approximately 1,700 active airline companies, 5,200 airports with IATA code, and 27,000 commercial aircraft used in passenger and cargo transport services (CAPA, 2023). Due to their business model, Low-Cost Airlines (LCC) keep operating costs low and transport passengers with low airfares. The problem of this study is to compare the before and after periods of positive contributions to the economy, travel, and tourism sectors of the region where LCCs enter, and to reveal the results of initiation of flights in terms of traffic growth, flight increase, change in indirect traffic, change in average airfares, seat capacity development and growth of inbound tourism for the country. For this purpose, the air traffic performance of three countries (Spain, Georgia and Israel) in which LCCs commenced flights was examined and analyzed using aviation tools and platforms such as CAPA, IATA AirportIS, and Cirium and as a result, it has been seen that LCCs created many positive effects on the economies of the countries they commenced flights, and they make travel to that region more attractive by creating more flexible ticket prices and accessible travel opportunities in favor of passengers.