A PLS-SEM Approach: Examining Factors that Influence the Growth of Low Cost Carriers for Post-Pandemic Travel

Abstract

Despite the Covid-19 outbreak in late 2019 that caused fears of traveling on a global scale, the airline's business outlook in the South East Asia region seems to be badly affected. A bigger challenge that remains in the industry is the uncertainty of the market growth for post-pandemic travel in this highly competitive airline industry. Therefore, this study aims at investigating the factors that influence the market growth of Low Cost Carriers such as Air Asia for post-pandemic travel. A sample of 500 respondents was collected through simple random sampling from those who had travelled at least once with LCCs in the past 5 years. The results indicate that brand image has the strongest prediction towards the growth of LCCs in this region. This study provides useful information for strategic planning in the LCCs industry and to better understand the travellers’ needs in the region.