Las compañías chárter en España (2004-2019)¿el fin de un modelo de negocio fordista?

Abstract

Since the beginning of the 21st century, academic literature has predicted the end of charter airlines on short- and medium-range routes and their replacement by low-cost operators due to the decline in package tours. This paper offers a quantitative approach to this process based on a methodological approach that questions the equivalence usually established between non-scheduled air traffic and charter traffic. Main results obtained show a less intense decline of charter airlines than showed by non-scheduled traffic figures in those Spanish airports where they were dominant before liberalization. However, notable differences between them arise due to different reasons. This decline in charter airlines is parallel to the boom in package tours observed over the last few years, evidencing the growing disconnection between both of them. Greater flexibility introduced by tour operators and the growing hybridization between the business models of the airlines after liberalization are main reasons explaining that dissociation.