Value proposition of Russian airlines: Drivers and directions of transformation

Abstract

One of the hardest hits by anti-coronavirus restrictions is the air transport market. Post-crisis recovery leads carriers to identification of changes consumer behavior of passengers and, therefore, transform the value proposition. This change has been happened in the past. In this case, analysis of nowadays situation is unable without research of airlines value proposition in the last 30–40 years. In the study, based on content-analysis of 902 articles from Web of Science and Scopus we identified main directions of airline value proposition development. Empirical study was based on Russian passenger’s airline market, where from the carriers perspective using complex case-study method we identified main directions of post-crisis value proposition evolution, from the passenger’s side — using survey of 808 respondents identified perception degree of such changes and their significance for the passenger when choosing an airline. Empirical results demonstrate that airlines choose to expand the number of available services for passengers, which allows them to attract new groups of passengers and increase their loyalty. At the same time, from the passenger perspective, such expansion doesn’t differentiate carriers n the passengers mind, but rather complicates consumer choice.