Asia-Pacific LCCs to flourish after pandemic?

One of the most intriguing trends in the Asia-Pacific region in the post-pandemic phase will be how much of an advantage the LCCs will have versus their full service brethren. It has become widely accepted that the LCCs will recover faster from the COVID-19 crisis.

But why is that, and where does that leave the FSCs? Airline executives from both business models gave some interesting insights into these questions during the latest CAPA Live event.

In many markets in this region the FSCs were already under severe pressure from the LCCs before the coronavirus pandemic, and the legacy airlines will likely find it even tougher in the next few years. Any post-COVID advantage could further entrench the LCCs in certain countries where they were already dominant.

Another intriguing question is whether long haul/widebody LCCs will find better conditions to thrive. They have suffered more than their short haul LCC cousins during the latest crisis, and will likely continue to do so in the short term at least.

But the promise of new aircraft types could give this business model a boost.