North Atlantic aviation market: LCCs grow market share

LCC seat share on the North Atlantic has grown from almost nothing five years ago to 8% in summer 2018, higher than in any long haul market from Europe (LCCs have 1.0% on Europe-Asia Pacific, 1.7% on Europe-sub Saharan Africa, and 3.4% on Europe-Latin America).

The dominance of immunised joint ventures involving the leading legacy airlines is being eroded, in no small measure due to LCC expansion. In particular, low cost narrowbody growth is now outpacing LCC widebody expansion in this market.

Led by Norwegian, LCCs have exploited EU-US market liberalisation and new generation aircraft (although Canada's WestJet mainly uses older Boeing 767s). WOW air's Icelandic connecting model has also contributed. New entrant Primera Air, an all-narrowbody operator, is following Norwegian in launching trans-Atlantic routes from the UK and France, outside its Nordic home markets.

History shows that the North Atlantic can be challenging for low cost airlines. Today, aircraft technology and the liberalisation of traffic rights have transformed the market and North Atlantic LCCs now appear to have a strong tailwind.