Behind Market Size: Understanding the Absence of Giant Low-Cost Carriers in Asia Pacific

Behind Market Size: Understanding the Absence of Giant Low-Cost Carriers
in Asia Pacific

This article examines the historical evolution of the Asia-Pacific LCC markets, highlighting the socio-economic and institutional factors that contribute to the market fragmentation and impede the growth of LCCs. Despite robust passenger demands and rapid network expansions, Asia Pacific has yet to produce giant LCCs. In contrast to the European single aviation market, the absence of a unified deregulation process and a shared Open Skies framework in Asia Pacific restricts LCCs’ seamless cross-border operations. The analysis underscores that structural and regulatory barriers remained key obstacles to larger-scale integration of the LCC market in this region. This may be partially overshadowed by the region’s apparent success in terms of LCC development. Consequently, this study proposes enhanced multilateral dialogues of regulatory systems to unify sub-aviation markets across the Asia-Pacific countries, fostering economic development, supporting tourism recovery in the post-COVID era, and finally improving social well-being.