Paying your bills...
Be it low-cost carrier, high-cost carrier, legacy carrier or regional carrier, all of us have to pay the bills at the end of month. We basically operate similar equipment on competitive routes, try to optimize crew utility- and aircraft utility-rate, gamble on fuel hedging, "optimize" company overhead structures, have a pool of external consultants from the same institutions to tell us how to run the show, market our brands to the best extent possible in order to bring our customers on board of our aircraft and then safe, efficient and on time from A to B and hopefully from B to A later on.
All this has a price tag, and our customers finally have to pay it.
Our passengers will decide how much of low-cost, high-cost, legacy or you name it will continue to exist in the future. While the "low-costers" will add a little more "gadets" to attract former legacy or "high-coster" business, former will try to add some "no-frills" to their product to get those "low-costers" on board. Finally, we'll probably see just ONE ultimate, very best and universally survivable world carrier offering all kinds of standardized air travel...with higher ticket cost due lack of competition...brave new world this will be !