Low cost carriers in Southeast Asia: How does ticket price change the way passengers make their airline selection?

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to develop an extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) model to examine how Southeast Asian passengers' internal behavioral factors and external stimuli affect their buying intention and actual purchase of Low-Cost Carrier (LCC) tickets. In addition, how ticket price changes the behaviors of those factors in that model is also examined. A survey of 781 passengers was conducted in two major airports in Thailand to test the hypotheses. The results indicate the important role of passengers' attitudes, social norms, and perceived behavioral control in LCC passenger's buying behavior. More importantly, the presence of the ticket price does change how other factors predict the behavioral intention and actual use of LCCs in Southeast Asia.