Essays on air transport marketing and economics

Abstract

The thesis is believed to be of value to both academics and practitioners in the area of air transport marketing and economics. It examines the economics of airlines and marketing of airports. The thesis consists of four papers. It begins with a study of airline economics that encompasses revenue and cost convergence aspects of airline business models including traditional scheduled, charter and regional airlines in comparison to a low-cost airline in the UK. It follows with a study of theoretical and methodological issues associated with content analysis, particularly of airport websites. The issue of airport branding is another important area of research in this thesis which focuses on aspects of airport marketing, especially the nature and use of names, logos and slogans at airports worldwide including the study of regional differences in the nature and use of airport names and slogans in Europe. The fourth study is related to airport marketing communications and uses content analysis methodology to investigate the content of communication on the websites of airports in Europe.