Low-cost carriers (LCCs) of the long-haul type have gained momentum in the years pre-COVID19, and on North Atlantic routes in particular. Yet their market impact on fare levels has never been evaluated, and findings related to short- and medium-haul LCCs cannot be readily applied to the long-haul case. We assess the effect, on market fare levels, of a long-haul LCC presence by proposing a stylized analytical model for hypotheses development. Then, while running two-stage least-squares regressions with instrumental variables, we distinguish between fares for economy and business classes, based on an extensive multi-year sample of North Atlantic routes. We estimate that, ceteris paribus, the presence of an LCC is associated with a 11% to 18% reduction in long-haul fares for economy class and 2% to 6% for business class. These findings continue to be relevant post–COVID19, as point-to-point-focused LCCs pose an alternative to sub-scale hub networks, especially with more leisure-/touristic-focused demand scenarios.

在 COVID19 之前的几年里，长途类型的低成本航空公司 (LCC) 势头强劲，尤其是在北大西洋航线上。 然而，它们对票价水平的市场影响从未得到评估，与短途和中途低成本航空公司相关的调查结果不能轻易应用于长途案例。 我们通过提出假设发展的程式化分析模型来评估长途低成本航空公司的存在对市场票价水平的影响。 然后，在使用工具变量运行两阶段最小二乘回归时，我们根据北大西洋航线的广泛多年样本区分经济舱和商务舱的票价。 我们估计，在其他条件不变的情况下，LCC 的存在与经济舱长途票价降低 11% 至 18% 和商务舱票价降低 2% 至 6% 相关。 这些发现在 COVID19 之后仍然具有相关性，因为以点对点为重点的 LCC 是次尺度枢纽网络的替代方案，尤其是在更多以休闲/旅游为重点的需求场景中。