Long haul is a market of huge potential for any airline, what’s catching our attention is the growing prominence of low cost long haul (LCLH).

The global market share of low cost long haul stands at 5.9% and is growing at an impressive rate of 189% growth over the last 5 years – an interesting insight shared by CAPA at its inaugural Low Cost Long Haul Summit in Seville last week.

David Doctor on Low Cost Long Haul Summit, Seville

With Seville’s airport serving as a base for Vueling and Ryanair and handling over 5 million passengers to 42 destinations, this beautiful Andalusian city set the scene perfectly for the conference.

Over the last couple of days, we’ve heard leading LCCs from around the world agree on the importance of being customer centric, ensuring high load factors with feeder traffic and keeping costs in check to be successful in low cost long haul.

When working with our customers, we’re seeing that the demand for low cost long haul is already there – primarily dealing with leisure travellers. One important consideration for hybrid and low cost carriers is to understand the needs and behaviors of long haul travellers as they open new routes and enter new markets.

Be where the customer is.

Travelers flying long haul face more choice than ever before. With the right technology and flexibility in distributing offers, we help airlines capture traveler’s attention when and where they are searching, shopping and buying travel.

In a cost efficient way.

When all distribution costs are taken into consideration, including digital advertising, the cost of direct and travel agency distribution are comparable. The key is finding the right channel mix for each airline in line with the customers they want to reach and operational efficiency.

That supports working in new and innovative ways.

When airlines are trying and testing new strategies, it’s important to have the technology that can respond quickly and provide the insights on how to approach new customers.

Norwegian is a great example of an innovative customer that is successfully using an omni-channel approach to support their growth in long haul while maintaining a low-cost model.

Low cost long haul is being tried and tested by airlines around the world. It’s the first movers who will guide others in the industry on how to pursue the opportunities of low cost long haul to secure future growth and profitability.

David Doctor, VP Airlines Strategy & Marketing, Amadeus / www.amadeus.com