Research Overview

The economy-class seating segment was the most affected during the recent pandemic. Till July 2021, passengers were reluctant to fly due to economy-class seats offering the least privacy between co-passengers. However, these cabins are the cheapest on commercial flights; effective vaccination results helped raise the demand for air travel, and revenues from economy-class cabins increased.

The resumption of operations of low-cost carriers (LCCs) and ultra-low-cost carriers (ULCCs) (both models featuring all-economy-class cabins), which survived the pandemic, helped quicken the recovery of global air travel demand and regional connectivity. Start-up airlines, observing the success of LCCs and ULCCs, have been set up based on these 2 business models. Ticket prices and competitor price reviews drive the passenger choice factors for an economy-class product. The future trends (especially during the recovery period) indicate that ticket prices will be the first passenger influencer when selecting flight schedules. Airlines serving passengers through the full-service carrier (FSC) business model can provide even economy passengers with increased service offerings. However, the value assigned to these offerings may differ for each passenger.