subject: How Are Cheap Air Tickets Shaping The Future Of Aviation? [print this page] In the typical marketing parlance it is said that the customers drive the business. So, the businesses which remain alive to the sensitivities of the people and understand their needs and demands usually do better than the others which are kept aloof from it. In the aviation industry, the single most important reason which has catapulted the growth of aviation across the globe is the demand for cheap air tickets by the customers. The airlines which have catered to this demand in the most satisfying way have seen their revenues and geographical expansion grow substantially.
The increasing demand of the cheap air tickets has meant that, on the one hand, the airlines had to restructure their business model in order to fulfill the demand and, on the other hand, the people have to give up on some of the luxuries for flying on short-haul routes. The current mushrooming of the LCCs, or the low cost carriers, across the world was born out of the need of meeting the crucial demand for cheap flights by the people. This was an altogether new business model for the airlines which were initially offering only the economy class seating in the regular full-service flights in the name of cheap air tickets. But, the LCCs changed the game and the usual three cabin classes were replaced with the single economy class cabin. The services were curtailed to an extent to become the no-frills service providers. Once the LCCs got going, more people could travel on airplane, paving way for creation of new aviation markets and stimulating the development of aviation friendly infrastructure in those areas.
Demand for cheap flights also meant that there has to be considerable research input in developing planes of future which could be capable of reducing the costs by taking all measures to make airplanes more operationally efficient. The shape and operations of future planes are likely to change as the concerns for environment and the demand of cheaper flights take centre stage. This has meant that the production schedules of the major aircraft manufactures have to be oriented towards developing more operationally efficient aircraft rather than the luxurious ones. The LCC operators have been successful worldwide, with very few exceptions to this general rule. And, therefore the aircraft manufacturers have been flooded with orders to have the most cost efficient aircraft from the manufacturers.
With growth in aviation has come a parallel development of the airport infrastructure. New airports are being set up and the old ones are being refurbished to add more capacity. This has made it possible to have cheap flights from the new areas, making aviation more accessible for people.
