Bielefeld, Germany Most budget airline passengers are not dependent on the low ticket prices, according to a survey by the market research company TNS Infratest in Bielefeld, Germany. The survey discovered that better-paid and higher-educated customers are among the budget airlines' passengers and most of them are frequent flyers.
The survey interviewed 12,000 people in Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Spain.
Interest in flying with low-cost airlines was greatest in Britain, France and Italy where 60 per cent of respondents said they would consider buying a cheap plane ticket.
In Spain 56 per cent of respondents expressed an interest in low- cost flying and 51 per cent in Germany.
Apart from Britain where 48 per cent of respondents said they had flown with a discount airline at least once, it appears the potential for growth in the industry has by no means been reached.
Only one-fifth of respondents in Germany, France and Italy said they had flown at least once with a low-cost carrier. In Spain the figure is one-ninth.
The survey discovered that budget airlines are very popular with people who already fly frequently.
It also revealed that people who make a spontaneous decision to fly often choose a low-cost carrier.
That was most evident in Germany where this applied to 79 per cent of people questioned. In the other countries surveyed it was just one-third.
People who save money on cheap tickets are less price-conscious when it comes to other travel expenses such as hotel accommodation.
This indicated that passengers displayed a more "hybrid consumer behaviour," according to the survey report.
