Description
Low-cost carriers have been renowned for innovation and disruption since their emergence. Over the last two decades, low-cost carriers have forged the way people fly, including their attitude towards baggage, especially cabin baggage also known as carry-on baggage. Innovative pricing strategies have been introduced by low-cost carriers unbundling the “traditional” fare structure to several fractured components to personalise the travel experience as it could be argued today. External factors though, including increased fuel prices led low-cost carriers to introduce baggage fees to improve their revenue against their increased operating costs. This option was initially introduced in hold luggage, over time though, restrictions, including, but not limited to revenue generation, were introduced on carry-on baggage too.
In 2019, 4.397 billion people flew according to the World Bank (2020) when ICAO reported 4.5 billion passengers for the same period (ICAO, 2019). According to the same report, ICAO estimates that 1.4 billion passengers in 2019 were carried by low-cost carriers, approximately 31 per cent of the world total scheduled passengers. The annual growth in passenger numbers in 2019 compared to the previous year was 5.3 per cent for low-cost carriers, almost 1.5 times the rate of the world total average passenger growth which was 3.6 per cent (ICAO, 2019).
This paper takes a deductive approach based on constructivist framework and inductive approach based on observations of airlines’ policies and practices. Despite the fact that the majority of inductive approaches are based on qualitative analysis, this paper follows a mixed methods approach by analysing mostly quantitative data as presented by low-cost carriers and attempts to interpret them in a qualitative approach. There is no primary data collection, all data collected are based on airlines’ sources.
Interestingly, there is limited literature related to baggage and pricing policies around them, let alone policies related to carry-on baggage. One of the first scholars referring to passenger accompanied luggage is Williams (1977) who referred to rail passengers and their luggage.
This study examines the baggage policies of the best low-cost carriers in the world according to the 2019 and 2023 Skytrax World Airline Awards. These low-cost carriers carried over 1 billion passengers in 2019, just under 25% of the world’s airline passengers. In 2023, two low-cost airlines alone accounted for over 20% of the global available seat kilometres (ASKs). The data were collected by accessing each airline’s internet page and the information was collated to examine, baggage dimensions, weight, and pricing policies. The main findings of this study highlight the innovation (or lack of) when it comes to carry-on baggage addressing the main challenges for the sector.
References
Barone, Henrickson, Voy, 2012. Baggage Fees and Airline Performance: A Case Study of Initial Investor Misperception, Journal of the Transportation Research Forum, Vol. 51, No. 1 (Spring 2012), 5-18.
Garner & Brandes, 2000. Defining airline compatible luggage, Journal of Air Transport Management, 239-244.
ICAO - International Civil Aviation Organisation (2019). The World of Air Transport in 2019. Available online at: https://www.icao.int/annual-report-2019/Pages/the-world-of-air-transport-in-2019.aspx
Loth, Molenbroek, Eijk, 2017. Hand luggage in the train toilet, Work, 59 (3), 387-399.
Williams, J.C. 1977. Passenger-accompanied luggage. Applied Economics, 8:3, pp 151-157.
World Bank, 2020. Air Transport, passengers carried. Available online at: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IS.AIR.PSGR
