Low cost carriers - Impacts

The influence on the transport market and economy Low cost carriers led to strong competition on the aviation market, also for the traditional airlines. But the full cost carriers can survive in parallel and do not loose too many clients. Low cost carriers led to a large extension in the number and density of civil airports. But the passenger number at traditional airports did not decrease. Consequently it can be said that low cost airlines induced either an additional demand or won clients for the air traffic which would have gone otherwise by train or car. In fact an interview showed that 59% of the clients of the LCC are new clients and 37% changed from other airlines. From the new clients 6% stated they would have used the train, 15% the car and 71% said, they would not have travelled at all if there would not have been the low cost offer.
1. Clients of European LCC in 2005/2006 in million per annum. The numbers refer either to the year 2005 or accumulated passengers over the last year until autumn 2006. Source: Airline websites

2. Clients in new and traditional German airports. The passenger numbers in traditional airports have not been decreasing. Source: Statistisches Bundesamt, Germany

The economic impact of the low cost services is often judged positively. It is estimated for example that the capacity extension of the airport Kln/Bonn (working under capacity since the German capital moved to Berlin) created about 15,000 further jobs for the region and that the new passenger airport in (Frankfurt-)Hahn created 8,000 jobs, partially in a region with low infrastructure. These evaluations include however not capacity losses in other transport sectors (e.g. railway) and costs by environmental damages.

3. Passenger decrease of the German rail in long distance traffic. Please click on the image in order to enlarge it. Source: Statistisches Bundesamt, Germany

Impact for the environment Considering that for example the German rail lost continuously clients on longer distances and that air traffic is generally unfavourable for the environment, it is obvious that the low

cost airlines stimulated a behaviour in the public which is not driven by urgent demands and also not welcome in the context of climate change mitigation. Certainly, it has also to be considered that with the renewal of the aircraft fleet (newer engines), the increased competition on the market and the higher operation efficiency the environmental damage per passenger kilometres flown decreased. This development would be welcome if not two negative effects would overcompensate it: 1. The more efficient aircrafts do not replace older ones but add to an increasing fleet. 2. If they replace older aircrafts the older ones are often sold to other regions of the world where they are still in use until the end of their typical lifetime of about 30 years. Consequently, low cost carriers modernise through expansion, but not through replacement of outdated technologies.

Ground based energy consumption Generally it is in the interest of airlines and airport companies to reduce energy costs. Respectively also many airports became more energy efficient. However, this effect is usually compensated by the extension of the existing airports and the construction of new airports. Also an aircraft on the ground consumes energy, because it remains air conditioned and supplied with power during the dispatch between two flights. Energy consumption is moderated (10 L diesel / hour) if a ground based power unit (GPU) is available. Consumption is high if the energy comes from the turbine of the auxiliary power unit (APU) of the airplane itself: e.g. 105 kg kerosene / hour in an Airbus 319, which is often used by LCC.

4. City hopper on the ground. Many aircrafts cannot be connected to airport ground based power units. Photo: Elmar Uherek

Additional energy consumption is caused by the road traffic which is required to transport freight or passengers to the airport. Roads and highways next to airports are often high emission zones for nitrogen oxides, ozone, particles and other air pollutants. Low cost carrier start often from small and new airports. This reduces often waiting times, traffic jam and the local density of emissions. On the other hand such airports are continuously extended and additional high traffic zones are formed which did not exist before.

Impacts in the flight altitudes The typical flight altitudes are between 9 and 13 kilometres in the region of the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (so called UTLS). Aircrafts emit to this atmospheric layer carbon dioxide, water vapour, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, sulphur compounds and soot. In this region the concentration of nitrogen oxides and water are low. Therefore, aviation has a strong influence on the chemical composition and cloud formation in this region.

5. Fuel consumption per passenger and 100 km flight distance. It has to be considered, that Lufthansa and British Airways have a global network and offer catering and other services in particular on long distance flights. Source: Airline business reports

The impacts are (as also discussed in several other articles) increase in tropospheric ozone, decrease in methane, potential destruction of the ozone layer, particle release and cloud condensation, contrail formation and increasing amount of cirrus clouds. The strongly expanding activity of low cost carriers certainly increases the burden in these altitudes, in particular in regions of high population density (for example central Europe or the United States) with many short distance flights.

6. Total kerosene consumption and CO2 emissions from different airlines. Graph: Elmar Uherek

Trends and future The main concern we need to have about low cost carriers is the fact, that they turn the luxury service of fast travel with its implicit environmental damages into a dayto-day service for more and more people. People use this service because they are attracted by the low price but they widely ignore the increasing price for the environment. In 1991 the average aircraft could

5. Planned development of the aircraft fleets of easyJet and Ryanair. Source: business reports

go 18,825 km with one ton of kerosene, in 2004 already 27,655. This is an enormous increase in technical efficiency. But, this is easily outpaced by an even more enormous increase in air traffic.