Small Colombian airlines substantially increased their market participation owing to the declared airline price war, RCN Radio reported Thursday.
According to the country’s air transportation authorities, small airlines reported two-digit increases in the percentage of passengers while big airlines counted decreases in the number of sold tickets.
A report from the Air Transpotation Association says that the air ticket price fell 17% while the number of travelers went up 7,3% in July 2009 compared with the same month in 2008.
This passenger increase is due to the small airlines’ low price of tickets that appeal to many passengers who can’t afford to travel with big airlines.
A representative of the Colombian travel agencies warned of the negative effect the price war may have on the operation cost of the small airlines.
The air companies with the greatest passenger increase are Aires with a 73,01% increase and Easy Fly with 90,36%, while Avianca, Aerorepública and Satena, lost 4,47%, 5,04%, and 7,33% of their passengers respectively.